- Cemal Turan
Molecular Ecology and Fisheries Genetics Laboratory, Marine Science Department, Faculty of Marine Science and Technology, Iskenderun Technical University, 31220 Iskenderun, Hatay, Turkey.
cemal.turan@iste.edu.tr - Deniz Ayas
University of Mersin, Faculty of Fisheries, Mersin, Turkey.
- Servet Ahmet Doğdu
Iskenderun Technical University, Maritime Vocational School of Higher Education, Underwater Technologies, Iskenderun, Hatay, Turkey.
- Ayşegül Ergenler
Molecular Ecology and Fisheries Genetics Laboratory, Marine Science Department, Faculty of Marine Science and Technology, Iskenderun Technical University, 31220 Iskenderun, Hatay, Turkey.
Volume 7 - No: 3
Extension of the Striped Eel Catfish Plotosus lineatus (Thunberg, 1787) from the eastern Mediterranean Coast to the Mersin Bay on the western Mediterranean Coast of Turkey
DOI: 10.28978/nesciences.1183740
Keywords: Alien species, striped eel catfish, Plotosus lineatus, westward extension, Mersin Bay
Abstract
A group of schools of striped eel catfish Plotosus lineatus (Thunberg, 1787) was photographed during scuba diving at depths of 10 m and 17 m on 11 July 2022 and on 24 September 2022 from Kızkalesi and Boğsak regions in the Mersin Bay of the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. With the present study, P. lineatus is extending its distribution to the western Mediterranean coastal waters after its first occurrence in 2016 in the İskenderun Bay of Turkish Marine waters.