Invasiveness risks of naked goby, Gobiosoma bosc, to North Sea transitional waters

First record in Europe of the Asian gobiid, shimofuri (marbled) goby Tridentiger bifasciatus Steindachner, 1881

“…The species apparently is not traded as an aquarium pet species and was likely introduced in the canal via ballast water exchange of transoceanic vessels. Despite the stringent ballast water regulations in the USA and Canada (Anonymous, 2019b) and the enactment of the global Ballast Water Management Convention in September 2017 (Anonymous, 2019a), ballast water exchange still seems to remain a persistent introduction vector for non‐native aquatic species, e.g ., naked goby (Dodd et al ., 2022). The Ballast Water Management Convention requires vessels to apply ballast water exchange, replacing sea water with fresh water and vice versa .…”

“…Unlike the Ponto–Caspian gobies, the naked goby is native to the East Coast of North America and was probably introduced with ballast water exchange from transoceanic vessels (Verreycken et al ., 2019). Other records of this species in Europe are from shipping canals in the Netherlands and Germany (Dodd et al ., 2022). Another recent goby introduction to Europe is the chameleon goby Tridentiger trigonocephalus (Gill 1859), which is native to Asia's marine and brackish waters and is confirmed to have established itself in the Mediterranean Sea (Goren et al ., 2009).…”