First record of red cornetfish Fistularia petimba (Syngnathiformes:Fistulariidae) from Antalya and İskenderun Bays along Turkish Coasts of the Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

Summary Here, we report the first occurrence of red cornetfish Fistularia petimba in the north‐eastern Mediterranean Sea. Altogether four specimens were captured; first two in Antalya Bay on 28 October 2016 and 26 November 2016, and the remaining two in İskenderun Bay on 21 May 2017 during the bottom trawl surveys along the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. All specimens were young and more or less uniform in size (383, 335, 419 and 453 mm standard length). The possibility that F. petimba could become a new potential invader in the Mediterranean as its congeneric F. commersonii is cautioned against.

The First Record of the Red Cornetfısh (Fistularia petimba Lacepède, 1803) in the Aegean Sea

“…The maximum length reported of Fistularia petimba was 200 cm in total length [4], however, observed specimens are usually not longer than 100 cm. This species has been reported from the western and eastern Mediterranean coasts (Figure 1): Spain [1], Israel [5], Syria [6], Cyprus [7] and Turkey [8,9].The present study represents the first record of F. petimba for the Aegean Sea and decreases the distributional gap between the western and eastern Mediterranean.…”

“…Its first Mediterranean record given from Cadiz, Spain in 1996 and the single collected specimen was assumed to originate from the West African coast populations of the species [1]. During 20 years, no sightings were reported until 2016 and then several sightings were recorded from the Levant Sea [5,7,8,9]. Considering the lengthy time passed between the first and the second records of this species, this situation may be explained as evidence of a failed introduction.…”

“…The family Fistulariidae consists of only one genus with four valid species, two of which have been reported in the Mediterranean: Fistularia petimba Lacepède, 1803 [1] and Fistularia commersonii Rüppell, 1838 [2]. [5], 3 [8], 4 [9], 5 [6], 6 [7], PS:…”

DNA barcoding for the assessment of marine and coastal fish diversity from the Coast of Mozambique

“…Our study also documented the presence of Fistularia petimba . This species has been reported in several studies as spreading into new areas, including the archipelago of the Azores, Portugal [ 82 ], the Aegean Sea [ 83 ], the southern Iberian Peninsula [ 84 ], the Mediterranean Sea [ 85 , 86 ], and the Syrian coast [ 87 ]. Notably, Fistularia petimba has also been recorded in the Gulf of Carpentaria in Australia [ 88 ].…”

First Record of the Red Cornetfish Fistularia petimba Lacepède, 1803 from Amorgos Island (Central Aegean Sea; Greece) and a Review of Its Current Distribution in the Mediterranean Sea

“…The studied red cornetfish, F. petimba, is native to the Indo-West Pacific, the tropical Atlantic [30], and the East Atlantic Ocean [33]. With a time lag of 20 years since its first siting in the western Mediterranean Sea (1996), it has been reported in several locations in the eastern Mediterranean Sea over the last ten years [34,35]. In this study, we show the immigration path of F. petimba in the eastern Mediterranean Sea through a stepping stone process of establishment through the Suez Canal [36,37].…”