This Collective Article presents information on 19 species with records in nine countries (Croatia, Cyprus, Italy, Libya, Malta, Slovenia, Spain, Tunisia and Türkiye), spanning the whole Mediterranean Sea. The recorded species belong to six phyla: Ochro-phyta (1 species), Brachiopoda (1 species), Bryozoa (1 species), Mollusca (3 species), Arthropoda (7 species), and Chordata (6 species). The brown alga Carpomitra costata var. mediterranea is reported for the first time in the eastern basin along the Turkish coast. The first detailed characterisation of the populations of the brachiopod Gryphus vitreus is made in Antalya Bay (eastern Mediterranean Sea), while the deep-sea bryozoan Kinetoskias smitti is spotted in ten localities along the Italian coast. Among molluscs, the first massive bloom of the pteropod Creseis acicula in Libyan water and the first record of the cephalopod Neorossia caroli from the northern Levant Sea are documented, while three specimens of the nudibranch Cumanotus beaumonti are photographed in the northern Adriatic Sea. Considering arthropods, four species (Bathynectes maravigna, Euchirograpsus liguricus, Paragalene longicrura, and Typton spongicola) are morphologically and genetically identified from the Gulfs of Naples and Salerno, the northernmost record of the crab Ocypode cursor in the Mediterranean Sea is presented, and the first records of two rare species, the shrimp Gnathophyllum elegans and the pycnogonid Anoplodactylus massiliensis, are reported in Cyprus and in the Strait of Sicily, respectively. Finally, among chordates, the rarely observed guitarfish Rhinobatos rhinobatos and the morayGymnothorax unicolor are reported from Maltese waters, the mako shark Isurus oxyrinchus was fortuitously filmed in Croatia, the distribution of the rare blenny Hypleurochilus bananensis is extended westward to the Iberian Peninsula, and the bastard grun, Pomadasys incisus and the gobiid Zebrus pallaoroi are firstly documented in the Italian side of the Adriatic Sea and in Tunisia, respectively.
New records of rarely reported species in the Mediterranean Sea (December 2025)
MARGHERITA TOMA;MARZIA BO;TOMMASO DELLI CARRI;LORIS GALLI;
2025-01-01
Abstract
This Collective Article presents information on 19 species with records in nine countries (Croatia, Cyprus, Italy, Libya, Malta, Slovenia, Spain, Tunisia and Türkiye), spanning the whole Mediterranean Sea. The recorded species belong to six phyla: Ochro-phyta (1 species), Brachiopoda (1 species), Bryozoa (1 species), Mollusca (3 species), Arthropoda (7 species), and Chordata (6 species). The brown alga Carpomitra costata var. mediterranea is reported for the first time in the eastern basin along the Turkish coast. The first detailed characterisation of the populations of the brachiopod Gryphus vitreus is made in Antalya Bay (eastern Mediterranean Sea), while the deep-sea bryozoan Kinetoskias smitti is spotted in ten localities along the Italian coast. Among molluscs, the first massive bloom of the pteropod Creseis acicula in Libyan water and the first record of the cephalopod Neorossia caroli from the northern Levant Sea are documented, while three specimens of the nudibranch Cumanotus beaumonti are photographed in the northern Adriatic Sea. Considering arthropods, four species (Bathynectes maravigna, Euchirograpsus liguricus, Paragalene longicrura, and Typton spongicola) are morphologically and genetically identified from the Gulfs of Naples and Salerno, the northernmost record of the crab Ocypode cursor in the Mediterranean Sea is presented, and the first records of two rare species, the shrimp Gnathophyllum elegans and the pycnogonid Anoplodactylus massiliensis, are reported in Cyprus and in the Strait of Sicily, respectively. Finally, among chordates, the rarely observed guitarfish Rhinobatos rhinobatos and the morayGymnothorax unicolor are reported from Maltese waters, the mako shark Isurus oxyrinchus was fortuitously filmed in Croatia, the distribution of the rare blenny Hypleurochilus bananensis is extended westward to the Iberian Peninsula, and the bastard grun, Pomadasys incisus and the gobiid Zebrus pallaoroi are firstly documented in the Italian side of the Adriatic Sea and in Tunisia, respectively.
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