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Fig. 6: The specimen of Lagocephalus lagocephalus caught
near Kornati archipelago (on 16 June 2015).
Two new additional records of oceanic puffer were
found near Kornati archipelago (6 nautical miles to the
south, around 43o47’N, 15o20’E, on 16 June 2015) and
near the island of Rab (around 44o46’N, 14o46’E, on 17
June 2015). This record near the island of Rab represents
the northernmost record of this species in the Adriatic Sea.
The first specimen from Kornati archipelago (Total
length TL=50 cm, Weight W= 2120 g) (Fig. 6) was cap-
tured from a depth of ca 1-3 m with a hand-line, while the
second (TL=48 cm, W=2000 g) (Fig. 7) from a depth of
80 m with a trawl net. The specimens were stored in the
Ichthyological collection of the Institute of Oceanography
and Fisheries in Split (catalogue number LagIOR 297).
These findings are interesting primarily because they
were recorded over 11 years after the first finding of the
species in the Adriatic Sea. Several questions could arise
based on the new additional records of the oceanic puffer
in the Adriatic Sea. Has this species established a popula-
tion in the Adriatic Sea or is it a seasonal visitor (three re- prostrate, up to 6 mm long, irregularly ramified and pro-
cords for the Adriatic Sea were during summer)? Although
there is no evidence of a permanent population in the
study area, the captures described here might be an indi-
cation of a northernmost expansion of the distribution of
the oceanic puffer in the Adriatic Sea in recent years. This
species has probably extended its distribution from popu-
lations in the Ionian Sea. Such expanding behaviour was
Fig. 7: The specimen of Lagocephalus lagocephalus caught
near island Rab – northernmost record in the Adriatic Sea (on
17 June 2015).
Medit. Mar. Sci., 16/2, 2015, 472-488
already observed for the Central Mediterranean between
2007 and 2012 along the Calabrian coast (Nicolaidou et
al., 2012). Zava et al. (2005) mention that the number of
oceanic puffer specimens has been increasing since 1999
for Sicilian waters (western Ionian Sea). New additional
records in the Adriatic could also be related to the effect of
BiOS (Civitarese et al., 2010) and oceanographical chang-
es in the Adriatic Sea (Dulčić et al., 2004).
There is no doubt that fish biodiversity in the Adriatic
Sea is changing but to what extent non-indigenous spe-
cies will affect its ecological balance remains to be seen
and continuous monitoring is essential.
2. Alien species
2.1. Occurrence of Antithamnionella elegans (Ceramiales,
Rhodophyta) on the Mediterranean shore of Israel
By R. Hoffman
During an annual algal survey conducted in 2014,
the filamentous red seaweed Antithamnionella elegans
(Berthold) J.H. Price & D.M. John was found for the
first time in the Levant Mediterranean Sea of Israel. This
alien species, which probably originated from the Indo-
Pacific Ocean, is distributed all along the shoreline from
Ashkelon (31.6808oN, 34.5539oE) in southern Israel to
Rosh HaNikra (33.0867oN, 35.1055oE) in the north. All
specimens collected were found growing as epiphytes,
exclusively attached on the thalli of the red calcified sea-
weed Ellisolandia elongata (J.Ellis & Solander) K.R.
Hind & G.W. Saunders, collected from the lower inter-
tidal and shallow subtidal zone.
Specimens collected were filamentous, uncorticated,
ducing upright axes which grow to a height of up to ~1.5
mm; axial cells of the prostrate axes measuring 90-120 x
26-40 µm; those of the erect axes 40-100 x 15-21 µm; erect
Fig. 8: Antithamnionella elegans: General view of branch and
whorl-branchlets in whorls of three. Note that each gland cell
(GS) lays laterally on a single cell (scale bar = 100µm).
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