Page 1 - Deniz_et_alii2017

NESciences, 2017, 2(3): 73-78

-SHORT COMMUNICATION-

Occurrence of the Spotted Sea Hare Aplysia dactylomela (Rang 1828, Aplysiidae) in
the Yeşilovacık Bay, Norteastern Mediterranean Coast of Turkey

1*
Deniz Ayas , Gülsemin Şen Ağilkaya 1

1 Fisheries Faculty, Mersin University, Mersin, Turkey Yenişehir Campus, 33160, Mersin, Turkey

Abstract
The alien opisthobranch, Aplysia dactylomela, is recorded for the first time from the Yeşilovacık
Bay in 2017. One specimen of A. dactylomela was photographed at the infralittoral zone of the Bay
. The length of the specimen was 35 cm. The individual was photographed while feeding on rocks
covered with algae. The first record of the A. dactylomela from the Mediterranean Sea was
reported from the island of Lampedusa (Central Mediterranean Sea) was reported in 2002. In the
following years, A. dactylomela was reported from the North-Eastern Sicily, from the coast of
Hatay (NE Mediterranean Sea of the Turkey), from the island of Crete (Aegean Sea), from the
coast of Kaş (NE Mediterranean Sea of the Turkey), from the Cirkewwa (Malta), from the Akhziv
submarine canyon (Israel), from the island of Paros (Aegean Sea), from the island of Susac (Crotia),
from the Montenegro (SE Adriatic Sea), from the Egadi Islands marine protected area (western
Sicily), from the Capo San Donato harbour (Ligurian Sea).

Keywords:
Spotted Sea Hare, Aplysia dactylomela, Yeşilovacık Bay, NE Mediterranean Sea

Article history:
Received 6 June 2017, Accepted 22 September 2017, Available online 30 October 2017

* Corresponding author: Deniz Ayas, e-mail: ayasdeniz@mersin.edu.tr