Abstract

This study was carried out in the Gulf of Antalya and Finike Bay between December 2011 and November 2012 seasonally by research vessel RV Akdeniz Su. In the three stations (A, B and C) 108 trawl operations were conducted totally for three different depth levels (20-50 m, 50-100 m and 100-200 m). Stations A (trawl fisheries has been prohibited since 2005) and Station B (main commercial bottom trawl area) located in Gulf of Antalya, Station C (commercial bottom trawl area) located in Finike Bay. Five pufferfish species (Lagocephalus suezensis, Lagocephalus spadiceus, Lagocephalus sceleratus, Torquigener flavimaculosus and Sphoeroides pachygaster) were obtained during the study period. Min/max lengths (cm) for this five species were 7.5/19.0, 10.7/25.3, 13.0/53.4, 3.8/16.5 and 14.2/38.3 respectively. L. suezensis had the highest abundance (819 individuals) and biomass (21 284.1 g) values. T. flavimaculosus with the second highest abundance value (65 individuals) had the lowest biomass value (874.4 g). Lowest abundance value was recorded for S. pachygaster (7 individuals). Station A, located in easternmost of three stations, had the highest abundance (77.4 % of all individuals) and biomass (71.0 % of all individuals) values. Whereas Station C had the lowest values (4.6 % and 11.6 % of all individuals). Most of the pufferfish individuals caught in the winter samplings, while lowest values were recorded in summer samplings. The highest abundance and biomass values were observed in 20-50 m depth levels. This study contains the first detailed information about pufferfish species for Finike Bay. This study supported by Akdeniz University Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit (Project number: 2011.03.0121.018).