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– Aplysia dactylomela Rang, 1828 from Israel: Between Akhziv and Rosh hanikra, sandy bottomed intertidal pool among rocks, 18/07/2005. Photo: G Sofer.
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Recent and overlooked unpublished records (2005-2011) of the invasive alien sea hare Aplysia dactylomela from Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, Greece, Malta and Italy are presented. We confirm the presence of established populations in Israel, Malta and the Gulf of Taranto (Italy, Ionian Sea), where hitherto the species was known from single records. In add...
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The spotted sea hare Aplysia dactylomela Rang, 1828 is reported from four locationsin Libyan coastal waters. The direct observation reported here resulted from a field survey of sea snails in the coastal environs of Tripoli, to the west of the country, while the remaining records result from postings made on the Facebook™ social media website, made...
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Citations
... First found in 1999 . Remarks: Crocetta et al. (2013) previously reported this species as first formally recorded from Lebanon by Crocetta & Galil (2012), overlooking the presence of a previous record in a review of alien species from the Mediterranean Sea (Galil, 2009: supplementary material), where the species is first reported from Lebanon as based on a personal communication by José Templado (Galil, pers. comm.). ...
... comm.). The record reported in Galil (2009) is based on the same material mentioned by Crocetta & Galil (2012) and fully explained by Crocetta et al. (2013). ...
We hereby review and update the current state of knowledge on the Lebanese gastropod biota based on published literature and the study of new samples. Review of 1543 published records yielded 237 gastropod taxa. New samples from the Lebanese coast yielded 2414 living specimens and 4003 empty shells, belonging to 188 taxa. Forty-six of the taxa are new records for the Lebanese fauna, bringing the gastropods known from Lebanon to 283 species. Literature records also included 71 nominal gastropod taxa based on type material from Lebanon, including 3 genera, 8 species, and 60 subspecific units. Of these, only 13 are retained as available. Of the 283 gastropod taxa known from Lebanon, 41 are aliens and 7 are cryptogenic. The majority of nonnative taxa were recorded only during the last decades,
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structure of Lebanese habitats and geographic zones is likely to hamper conservation actions and legal protection of critical species. We therefore recommend additional field and laboratory research to increase knowledge of both taxonomic composition and species’ distributions in Lebanon and elsewhere in the easternmost Mediterranean Sea.
... A similar event occurred for another nonindigenous species, the opisthobranch Aplysia dactylomela Rang, 1828. Valdés et al. (2013 confirmed that this species has an Atlantic origin, but it was first recorded in 2002 in the Sicily Channel (Trainito 2003) and then expanded into the Adriatic, central and eastern Mediterranean (Crocetta and Galil 2012). There are several hypotheses, related with historical and contemporary events which could justify the pattern of spread of this species in Mediterranean. ...
The present short note explores the westward expansion of the non-indigenous
fangtooth moray Enchelycore anatina (Lowe, 1838) within the Mediterranean Sea.
Indeed, this species that is native to the Atlantic Ocean, has extended its distribution
range into the Mediterranean Sea, reaching firstly the eastern part of the basin. In
the last decades, the fangtooth moray has been reported in the central Mediterranean
Sea, representing a further westward expansion within the Basin. This record of the
fangtooth moray is the third report from Italian territorial waters and the second one
for Sicilian waters. In this study, two new individuals of the species are reported
along the Ionian coast of Sicily. The rapid expansion of this fish species within the
Mediterranean might be the result of its long pelagic larval stage. The fangtooth
moray is an active predator, which can heavily impact native communities, thus it
is necessary to keep monitoring the occurrence and expansion of this species within
the Mediterranean.
... Interestingly, spotted sea hares are also recorded from Tunisia ( Aissi et al. 2018), where it may have spread from neighbouring localities where it was already present and well-established, such as Sicily, Malta or Crete ( Crocetta and Galil 2012;Crocetta et al. 2017;Mannino et al. 2017). In addition to providing new records of the occurrence of A. dactylomela, this study underlines the potential of social media in providing new and supporting records on marine fauna and that through consultation, citizen scientists can make a significant contribution to faunal surveys, particularly in understudied or remote areas ( Rizgalla et al. 2016;Moles 2017;Mannino and Balistreri 2018;Smith 2017, 2018). ...
The spotted sea hare Aplysia dactylomela Rang, 1828 is reported from four locationsin Libyan coastal waters. The direct observation reported here resulted from a field survey of sea snails in the coastal environs of Tripoli, to the west of the country, while the remaining records result from postings made on the Facebook™ social media website, made by recreational spear-fishermen who took images and filmed specimens at Abo Fatma beach and Misrata, to the west of the country, and also at sites close to Benghazi and Al Hamamah, to the east of the country. This is the first record of A. dactylomela in Libyan waters.
... The first record of A. dactylomela in the Mediterranean Sea was in the island of Lampedusa (central Mediterranean) in 2002 (Trainito, 2003). Since then, a plethora of new records popped out in the eastern and central Mediterranean basin, including Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Cyprus, Turkey, Greece, Croatia, Malta, and Italy (Schembri, 2008;Yokes, 2008;Crocetta & Galil, 2012;Crocetta et al., 2013;Valdés et al., 2013;Katsanevakis et al., 2014). Although this fast invader was firstly proposed to come from the Red Sea via the Suez Canal (i.e. ...
... Although this fast invader was firstly proposed to come from the Red Sea via the Suez Canal (i.e. Erythrean migration; Crocetta & Galil, 2012), later studies showing the atypical sequence of colonization of A. dactylomela and DNA data recover this species as a colonizer from the Atlantic via the Strait of Gibraltar . Nonetheless, its Mediterranean introduction vector is not yet established with certainty, and therefore A. dactylomela has been cautiously considered as a cryptogenic species (Mannino et al., 2017). ...
... Valdés et al. (2013) suggested that the veliger larvae of A. dactylomela successfully traversed the Almería-Orán front during mild-winters; subsequently being transported to the central and eastern Mediterranean by the Algerian Current and the Mid-Mediterranean Jet, respectively. Lately, several colonisations towards the central Mediterranean have been reported (Schembri, 2008;Yokes, 2008;Crocetta & Galil, 2012;Valdés et al., 2013;Mannino et al., 2014). This hypothesis, therefore, would predict a potential colonization of the western Mediterranean by A. dactylomela, following the main Mediterranean currents. ...
The marine cryptogenic species Aplysia dactylomela was recorded in the Mediterranean Sea in 2002 for the first time. Since then, this species has rapidly colonized the eastern Mediterranean, successfully establishing stable populations in the area. Aplysia dactylomela is a heterobranch mollusc found in the Atlantic Ocean, and commonly known as the spotted sea hare. This species is a voracious herbivorous with generalist feeding habits, possessing efficient chemical defence strategies. These facts probably promoted the acclimatation of this species in the Mediterranean ecosystems. Here, we report three new records of this species in the Balearic Islands and Catalan coast (NE Spain). This data was available due to the use of citizen science platforms such as GROC (Catalan Opisthobranch Research Group). These are the first records of this species in Spain and the third in the western Mediterranean Sea, thus reinforcing the efficient, fast, and progressive colonization ability of this sea hare. We have demonstrated that citizen science is a valuable tool for the early awareness of new colonizations as well as for monitoring the advance and settlement of new populations of cryptogenic species.
... Bugula neritina (Linnaeus, 1758); b) range expansion of already known species resulting in change of their establishment success, e.g. the brown shrimp Penaeus aztecus Ives, 1891, which within six years invaded almost the entire Mediterranean since the first record from Turkey (Deval et al., 2010), and whose status was switched from casual to invasive; c)changes in identification/nomenclature resulting from both traditional and molecular studies, e.g. the wellestablished and exploited prawn previously identified as Penaeus japonicus Spence Bate, 1888, and known in the Eastern Mediterranean since 1924 (Egypt: Balss, 1927), turned out to be Penaeus pulchricaudatus Stebbing, 1914(Tsoi et al., 2014. Moreover, some alien fish species that are well-established in the Mediterranean and widely reported in the past literature with specific binomial names turned out to be species that are novel to science: Etrumeus teres (DeKay, 1842) vs Etrumeus golanii DiBattista et al., 2012;Saurida undosquamis (Richardson, 1848) vs Saurida lessepsianus Russell et al., 2015;Sillago sihama (Forsskål, 1775) vs Sillago suezensis Golani et al., 2014(see DiBattista et al., 2012Russell et al., 2015;Golani et al., 2016); d) changes in alien or native status for cryptogenic species resulting from genetic and biogeographical studies, e.g. the alga Caulacanthus okamurae Yamada (see Verlaque et al., 2015), the polychaete Chaetozone corona Berkeley and Berkeley, 1941 (see Le Garrec et al., 2017); e) changes in the introduction pathway resulting in the alteration of native/alien/cryptogenic status, e.g. the case of Aplysia dactylomela Rang, 1828, initially assumed to be ship transferred or unaided via Gibraltar (Scuderi and Russo, 2005), subsequently moved to the Lessepsian immigrant category (entering via the Suez Canal: Crocetta and Galil, 2012), and was lately transferred to unknown category (Vald es et al., 2013). ...
The meticulous revision by taxonomic experts of established alien species in the Mediterranean resulted in a major revision of the list proposed by Galil et al. (2016), with 72 species to be excluded (35 species categorised as non-established and 37 as not true aliens), and 71 species added to the list. Consequently, by year 2016 the total number of established alien species in the Mediterranean reached 610, which is a 20% increase over the preceding four years. If we also consider casual species (227 species), the total number of alien species in the Mediterranean is 837. This is attributed to: new findings, change in establishment status of species previously known on the basis of few and scattered records, and results of phylogenetic studies in some cosmopolitan species. However, the true number of alien species reported here is considered to be an underestimation, as it does not include phytoplanktonic organisms, Foraminifera, cryptogenic and species known on the basis of questionable records that might turn out to be true aliens. EASIN and INVASIVESNET can play a major role in the future revision/update of the present list, which currently serves for assessing indicators that are necessary for policy, and for management of alien species in the Mediterranean Sea. An increasing trend in new arrivals since 1950, which culminated in the 2001–2010 period, appeared to decline after 2010. Whether this negative trend is an indication of improvement, or is an artefact, remains to be seen. The current list provides a reliable updated database from which to continue monitoring the arrival and spread of invasive species in the Mediterranean, as well as to provide counsel to governmental agencies with respect to management and control. Current geographical, taxonomical and impact data gaps can be reduced only by instituting harmonised standards and methodologies for monitoring alien populations in all countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea.
... Two of the most easily recognizable members of Aplysia are the species Aplysia dactylomela Rang, 1828 and Aplysia argus Rüppell & Leuckart, 1830, both of which possess characteristic black rings on the body. Aplysia dactylomela was thought to be a circumtropical species with a broad range in tropical and temperate coastal regions all around the world (Eales, 1960;Bebbington, 1974;Bebbington, 1977), including the Indo-Pacif ic and the tropical Eastern Pacif ic (Farran, 1905;Rudman, 1999;Yonow, 2008;Gosliner et al., 2008;Gosliner et al., 2015), the eastern and western Atlantic Ocean (Ortea and Martínez, 1990;Rudman, 1999;Cervera et al., 2004;Valdés et al., 2006), South Africa (Bebbington, 1974), and more recently from several localities in the eastern Mediterranean (Crocetta and Galil, 2012). However, molecular and morphological data revealed that A. dactylomela constituted two genetically distinct species, with A. argus Rüppell and Leuckart (1828) distributed in the tropical Indo-Pacif ic, and A. dactylomela in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean (Alexander and Valdes, 2013;Valdes et al., 2013). ...
The black-ringed Aplysia was reported in Indian taxonomic records as Aplysia dactylomela Rang, 1828. This paper confirms that the Indian species records of A. dactylomela represents Aplysia argus Rüppell & Leuckart, 1830, based on morpho-molecular approach.
... In Table 1 the check- list of our records is reported. The presence of the all species in the study are was confirmed by original direct observations from the authors, except for Aplysia dactylomela, Brachidontes pharaonis, Cerithium scabridum, Clytia hum- melinki, Fulvia fragilis, Haminoea cyanomar- ginata, Melibe viridis, Pinctada margaritifera, Pinctada radiata, Pseunes pellucidus, Sypho- nota geographica, Stephanolepis diasprosi and Zenopsis conchifera, whose presence was con- firmed from bibliographic research (Francesco Turano, unpublished data; BOERO et al., 1997;MOJETTA, 1998;GRAVILI et al., 2008;CROCETTA et al., 2009;GRAVILI et al., 2010;CROCETTA & GALIL, 2012;ZENETOS et al., 2012). ...
... The origin and vector of transportation of Aplysia dactylomela are not clear (NICOLAIDOU et al., 2012;THESSALOU et al., 2012). Some authors considered that the Mediterranean popu- lations had been introduced through the Suez Canal rather than trough the Strait of Gibraltar (CROCETTA & GALIL, 2012). However, recent molecular studies (VALDES et al., 2013) suggested that all Mediterranean populations are of Atlan- tic origin. ...
In this paper a contribution to the knowledge of marine and brackish water alien species recorded along the Calabrian coasts (Southern Italy, Central Mediterranean) during the period 2000-2013 is given. The study area is located in the center of the Mediterranean. Records of alien species come from 13 years of both field and opportunistic fishing surveys. Also a bibliographical search in the scientific literature and public and private archives was performed. Eightenn of marine alien species recorded: 1 cnidarian, 11 molluscs, 3 crustaceans, and 4 bony fishes; in addition to these, was considered also the presence of four bony fish, that have naturally spread into the Mediterranean: Sphoeroides pachygaster, Gymnothorax moringa, Pseunes pellucidus and Zenopsis conchifera. The highest number of records comes from the Messina Strait. The most common and widest observed species were Percnon gibbesi, Callinectes sapidus, Fistularia commersonii and Procambarus clarckii. The record of Ruditapes philippinarum in the Foce Crati is the first for the Ionian Sea and for the Central Mediterranean. Gymnothorax moringa is here recorded for the first time in the Mediterranean. © 2015, Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries. All rights reserved.
... [15] Aplysia dactylomela was originally considered a pan-global species found in tropical and subtropical regions, which invaded the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal (Crocetta & Galil, 2012). However, have shown that A. dactylomela s.l. ...
An updated review of marine alien species and other ‘newcomers’ recorded from the Maltese Islands is presented on account of new records and amendments to a previous review in 2007. Species were classified according to their establishment status (‘Questionable’, ‘Casual’, ‘Established’, ‘Invasive’) and origin (‘Alien’, ‘Range expansion’, ‘Cryptogenic’). A total of 31 species were added to the inventory, while 6 species have been removed, bringing the total number of species to 73. Of these, 66 are considered to be aliens (or putative aliens but with uncertain origin) with the remaining 7 resulting from range expansion. Six records are considered to be questionable and hence unverified. For verified records, the dominant taxonomic groups are Mollusca (represented by 21 species) and Actinopterygii (15 species), followed by Crustacea (8 species) and Rhodophyta (7 species). Eight of these species (aliens: Caulerpa cylindracea, Lophocladia lallemandi, Womersleyella setacea, Brachidontes pharaonis, Percnon gibbesi, Fistularia commersonii, Siganus luridus; range extender: Sphoeroides pachygaster) are considered to be invasive. The introduction pathway for 30 species is unknown. Amongst the alien species, ‘Shipping’ is the most common introduction pathway, followed by ‘Secondary dispersal’ from elsewhere in the Mediterranean Sea. An increasing trend in the number of alien marine species reported from the Maltese Islands is evident, with a peak of 22 species recorded during the last decade (2001–2010). A discussion on the rationale for including range-expanding species in national inventories of recent arrivals, and in the analysis of trends in records from the Maltese Islands, is included. In particular, the general warming trend of Mediterranean surface waters appears to be facilitating the westward spread of thermophilic alien species from the Eastern to the Central Mediterranean, and the eastward range expansion of tropical and subtropical Eastern Atlantic species.
... Taking into account recent reviews only, and excluding cryptogenics and potential newcomers, Occhipinti-Ambrogi et al. (2011) recently reported 31 confirmed alien mollusc species from Italy. These data were then reviewed by Crocetta (2012), Crocetta et al. (2013), Macali et al. (2013) and Valdes et al. (2013), stating a final number of 35 alien mollusc taxa reported in Italy, of which 21 (or 20 according to Giacobbe & De Matteo, 2013) are now considered as established. The aim of the present paper is to provide new distributional data from the Italian seas of four already established aliens, Haminoea cyanomarginata (Heller & Thompson, 1983), Melibe viridis (Kelaart, 1858), Anadara transversa (Say, 1822) and Pinctada imbricata radiata (Leach, 1814), and the possible alien (see below for discussions) Aplysia dactylomela Rang, 1828, together with a brief review of their known Italian distribution. ...
... The inclusion (or not) of the taxa listed as aliens in the Mediterranean is based on strict accordance to the definition of alien species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, as in previous reviews from alien mollusc species in Italy (Crocetta, 2012;Crocetta et al., 2013). Therefore, four of the species hereby discussed fit this definition well. ...
... Early Italian records included one specimen in a tide pool at 0.1 -0.2 m depth at the 'Isola Lachea and Faraglioni dei Ciclopi Marine Protected Area' (Scuderi & Russo, 2005) and about 30 specimens and egg-masses at a low depth on rocky bottoms covered by an algae layer at Giardini Naxos (Greco, 2006). It soon became common along the whole eastern Sicilian shores, from Messina to Syracuse (Crocetta & Colamonaco, 2010;Giacobbe et al., 2010;Crocetta & Galil, 2012), with records even from the Calabrian shores of the Strait of Messina area (Punta Pellaro and Bocale, Reggio Calabria) (Crocetta et al., 2009a). It then spread to Pantelleria (Crocetta & Galil, 2012), Egadi (Mannino et al., 2014) and Linosa (Lodola et al., 2012) Islands, along the Tyrrhenian shores of Calabria at Diamante and Ricadi (Crocetta & Galil, 2012;Valdes et al., 2013) and Campania at Palinuro (Salerno: Valdes et al., 2013), and in the Gulf of Taranto at Gallipoli (Crocetta & Colamonaco, 2010, 2011Crocetta & Galil, 2012), Nardò (Crocetta & Galil, 2012) and Torricella ( Figure 2 ...
We hereby provide new distributional data for alien and possible alien molluscs from the Italian seas, together with a brief review of their known Italian distribution and updated distributional maps. In particular, Haminoea cyanomarginata is confirmed for the Calabrian shores of the Messina Strait area and is first reported from the eastern and western Sicily, therefore suggesting a natural spreading into the Italian central
Mediterranean Sea. Melibe viridis is confirmed for the Ionian Calabrian shores and Sardinia, where it was previously known from isolated records only. Pinctada imbricata radiata is first reported as naturally widening its distribution in Sardinia and in the Gulf of Taranto, where new populations are soon awaited, whilst Aplysia dactylomela is now expanding its range along the Italian Adriatic shores. And last, recent records of Anadara transversa from the Sabaudia Lake testify the role of lagoon systems as hot-spots for the introduction and secondary spreading of alien species, and indicate mussel aquaculture as the likely vector of introduction for its occurrence.
... The species, considered an alien in the Mediterranean, was first recorded in the Mediterranean Sea, from the Island of Lampedusa (AG), Sicily Channel (Trainito, 2003). The actual distribution of A. dactylomela is restricted to the central and eastern Mediterranean (Pasternak & Galil, 2010;Crocetta et al., 2013), thus suggesting it to be of Indo-Pacific origin (Yokeş, 2006;Crocetta & Galil, 2012;Kout, 2012;Pirkenseer, 2013). ...
The alien mollusc Aplysia dactylomela is recorded for the first time from the Egadi Islands marine protected area (western Sicily). This species has been widely reported in the Mediterranean and has established populations in Sicily. The presence of a few specimens let us suppose that its occurrence in this area is a recent event and that soon new populations will be sighted in the whole Egadi Islands and on the western and southern coasts of Sicily.
