Page 2 - Collective Article_2017

Introduction the nomenclature proposed by the World Register of Ma-
rine Species (WoRMS). In total, 22 taxa belonging to 5
During the last decades, many new species have been
discovered in the Mediterranean Sea. The main reasons Phyla are presented in this work (Table 1). Thirteen spe-
are mostly related to Lessepsian migration, Atlantic in- cies are alien species, one is considered as cryptogenic,
flux, anthropogenic introduction of non indigenous spe- one is related to the Atlantic influx. Among the seven na-
cies, and also better investigation of marine biodiversity. tive Mediterranean species, one is critically endangered in
The collective paper (Series A, on “New Mediterranean the Mediterranean, while others are considered as rare or
Biodiversity Records”) included in Mediterranean Ma- less known species.
rine Science offers the opportunity to publish such new Some new species were recorded for certain countries
records rapidly, and contributes to fast dissemination. This or geographic areas. Among the first records, one is report-
is also the case for the current paper, which deals with ed for Italy, one for Slovenia and one for Greece, whereas
the discovery of many non-native species, new records of one first record was reported for the Black Sea and one for
rare or less known species, and reports on certain endan- the Central Mediterranean Sea. Three subchapters deal
gered taxonomic groups such as sharks and rays. with the alien herbivorous fish Siganus luridus, one of the
The new records are arranged from west to east and most successful Mediterranean invaders, which further
shown in Table 1 and Figure 1. The faunistic list follows extented its known distribution in the Mediterranean Sea.

Fig. 1: The Mediterranean Sea and the sampling sites of the records included in “New Mediterranean Biodiversity Records (March
2017)”. The numbers correspond to localities reported in Table 1.

180 Medit. Mar. Sci., 18/1, 2017, 179-201