Page 1 - Castriota_alii_2014

New biologica} data on Fistularla commersonii
in the centrai Mediterranean Sea

by

Luca CASTRIOTA* (1), Manuela FALAUTANO (1), Pietro BATTAGLIA (2),
Alberto ODDO (3) & FrancoANDALORO (l)

@Sfl Abstraet. - Preliminary data on age, growth and diet of bluespotted cornetfish Fistularia commersonii Ri.ippell,
Received: 24 Sep. 2012 1838 (Fistulariidae) in the centrai Mediterranean Sea are provided. In the study area, this invasive Lessepsian
Accepted: 24 Sep. 2012 fish showed piscivorous behaviour, focusing mainly on labrids, clupeids and sparids. Prey composition suggests
Edrtor: O. Otero that bluespotted cornetfish explores various habitats for hunting. Prey fishes were mainly juveniles and their size
showed positive correlation with predator size. Estimateci by vertebrae readings , ages ofbluespotted cornetfish,
Key words having sizes from 73.0 to 107.5 cm totallength, ranged from 2 to 4 years; these are the first estimates of age for
Fistulariidae this species. The parameters of von Bertalanffy growth curves were L, = 102.39 cm, k = 0.49 year·1, to = -0.57
Fistularia commersonii years. The analysis of grov.'th rates indicates that bluespotted cornetfish is a fast-growing species. Growth per-
Mediterranean Sea
Age =formance index was 4>' = 3.71, and weight-length relationship, W = 0.0001 x TL3372 (R2 0.857), described
Growth
Lessepsian positive allometric growth of F. commersonii.

Résumé. - Nouvelles données biologiques sur Fistularia commersonii en Méditerranée centrale.

Des données prélinùnaires sur l'age, la croissance et l'alimentation de l'espèce lessepsienne Fistularia com-
mersonii Ri.ippell, 1838 en Méditerranée centrale sont présentées. Dans la zone d'étude, cette espèce invasive
a un comportement piscivore, se concentrant principalement sur !es labridés, !es clupéidés et !es sparidés, ce
qui indique une exploration de divers habitats. Ces proies sont principalement des juvéniles dont !es tailles sont
positivement corrélées à la taille du prédateur. L'estimation de l'age à partir des vertèbres indique des individus
agés de 2 à 4 ans pour des longueurs totales comprises entre 73 ,O et 107,5 cm. Ce sont !es prenùères estimations

de l'age de F. commerso nii. Les paramètres des courbes de croissance de von Bertalanffy sont TLx. =102,39

cm, k = 0,49 ans·1, to = -0,57 ans. L'analyse des taux de croissance indique que F. commersonii est une espèce à
croissance rapide. L'indice de performance de croissance est 4>' = 3,71, et la relation entre le poids et la longueur,
W = 0,0001 x 3,372 TL (R2 =0,857), décrit une croissance allométrique positive.

In the last century, the Mediterranean basin has been introduction sites just happened during the period ofincreas-
affected by invasions of non-native organisms, mostly tropi-
cal and subtropical species, from both the Red Sea through ing temperatures, i.e. after 1980's (Rixen et al., 2005; Rait-
the Suez Canal and the Atlantic Ocean through the Strait of sos et al., 2010). Among the Lessepsian fish species moving
Gibraltar.This phenomenon exacerbated during the last three
decades, concomitantly with increasing temperatures of westward from the eastern Mediterranean basin, only three
Mediterranean surface seawaters, the so-called "Mediterra-
nean tropicalization" (Andaloro and Rinaldi, 1998; Bianchi species entered the western basin. The rabbitfish Siganus
and Morri, 2003). An apparent signal of this phenomenon luridus (Ri.ippell, 1829) was recorded in southern Tyrrhenian
is pictured by non-indigenous fishes, which respond to tem-
perature changes enlarging their populations and distribution Sea in 2004 (Castriota and Andaloro, 2008) and later in the

area (Riera et al., 1995) . About 63% of fish introductions in Gulf of Lion in 2008 (Daniel et al., 2009) .The filefish Steph-
anolepis diaspros Fraser-Brullller, 1940 was recorded in the
the Mediterranean is made of Indo-Pacific tropical or sub-
tropical species which mainly entered the Mediterranean Gulf of Palermo (southern Tyrrhenian Sea) in 1983 (Cata-
through immigration from the Suez Canal after its open- lano and Zava, 1993) and l ater in northern Tunisia in 2004
and 2008 (Ben Amor and Capapé, 2008. However, estab-
ing in 1869 (Lessepsian migration) (Andaloro et al., 2011). lished populations of these two species in the western basin
is not confirmed yet . Otherwise, the bluespotted cornet-
Among them , only few species have been recorded along the
whole longitudinal spectrum covered by the Mediterranean. fish Fistularia commersonii Ri.ippell, 1838 (Fistulariidae),
Their migration and conquest of the farthest waters from entered the western basin in 2003 (Pipitone et al., 2004)

and in short time colonized all the Mediterranean, reaching

the southern coasts of Spain (Sanchez-Tocino et al., 2007)

(l) lnstitute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) , STS Palermo, via Salvatore Puglisi 9, 90143 Palermo, ltaly.
[manuela.falautano@isprambiente.it] [franco.andaloro@isprambiente.it]

(2) ISPRA, Laboratory ofMilazzo, Via dei Mille 44,98057 Milazzo (ME), ltaly. [pietro.battaglia@isprambiente.it]

(3) University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Ed. 16,90128 Palermo, ltaly. [alberto.oddo@gmail.com]

* Corresponding author [luca.castriota@isprambiente.it]

Cybium 2014, 38(1): 15-21.