Filling the Gap of Data-Limited Fish Species in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea: A Contribution by Citizen Science

Abstract

The biodiversity of the Mediterranean Sea is rapidly changing due to anthropogenic activity and the recent increase of seawater temperature. Citizen science is escalating as an important contributor in the inventory of rare and data-limited species. In this study, we present several records of five data-limited native fish species from the eastern Mediterranean Sea: Alectis alexandrina (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817), Ranzania laevis (Pennant, 1776), Dalatias licha (Bonnaterre, 1788), Lophotus lacepede (Giorna, 1809), and Sudis hyalina (Rafinesque, 1810). All of the records were collected by a participatory process involving fishers and validated by associated taxonomic experts of the citizen science programme “Is it Alien to you? Share it!!!”. This study fills an important gap for the distribution of the reported species and signifies the important role of citizen participation as a tool for extending marine biodiversity knowledge and fisheries management in an area with several gaps of knowledge on targeted and non-targeted species.

Additional Records of Tripletail Lobotes surinamensis (Bloch, 1790), from the Eastern Mediterranean

“…The method is currently flourishing in the Mediterranean, highly supported by the increasing use of social media and other modern technologies like smartphones (Cardoso et al 2017). Several projects exist that facilitate massive reporting of various marine taxa (Giovos et al 2019 and references within;Tiralongo et al, 2019a;Bargnesi et al 2020 and references within;Naasan Aga Spyridopoulou et al 2020) and habitats (Gerovasileiou et al 2016). Our data highlight the value of citizen science and social media for supporting marine research in the changing environment of the Mediterranean Sea.…”

“…Share it !!!" has gathered a vast amount of information, including several records of alien and rare species from the eastern Mediterranean (Giovos et al 2019;Naasan Aga Spyridopoulou et al 2020) and first records of alien and native species from the Mediterranean (e.g. Giovos et al 2018;Langeneck et al 2019;Giovos et al 2020), Greece (e.g.…”

“…The proper communication with scientists is constantly producing new data that can be used to understand the presence and distribution of species in the Mediterranean Sea. Citizen science has the potential to address a big gap in marine research despite a margin of error that should be taken into account since reports are provided by non-scientists (Marshall and Pierce 2012;Katsanevakis and Moustakas 2018;Naasan Aga Spyridopoulou et al 2020). In a shifting climate and a changing basin, the participation and contribution of citizen scientists in monitoring shifts in species distributions is critical (Giovos et al, 2019;Azzuro et al, 2019).…”

Next‐generation ultrasonic recorders facilitate effective bat activity and distribution monitoring by citizen scientists

“…Other citizen science projects have produced new information in a similar way, for instance, on the distribution of rare fish species (Naasan Aga Spyridopoulou et al. 2020, Tiralongo et al. 2020), insects (Zapponi et al.…”

Next-generation ultrasonic recorders facilitate effective bat activity and distribution monitoring by citizen scientists

“…With the help of citizen scientists, we produced valuable occurrence information for the Nathusius’s pipistrelle, with the current northernmost observation in Finland in the Oulu region (c. 65° north) recorded by participating students. Other citizen science projects have produced new information in a similar way, for instance, on the distribution of rare fish species (Naasan Aga Spyridopoulou et al 2020, Tiralongo et al 2020), insects (Zapponi et al 2017, Soroye et al 2018, Wilson et al 2020) and large carnivores in remote areas (Farhadinia et al 2018).…”