The invasive tropical scyphozoan Rhopilema nomadica Galil, 1990 reaches the Tunisian coast of the Mediterranean Sea

Yahia, Mohamed Néjib Daly; Yahia, Ons Kéfi–Daly; Gueroun, Sonia K. M.; Aissi, Mehdi; Deidun, Alan; Fuentes, Verónica; Piraino, Stefano

doi:10.3391/bir.2013.2.4.10

Cited by 29 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…In subsequent years, R. nomadica has been observed in the majority of eastern Mediterranean countries up to Greece, as well as in Malta and Tunisia in the central Mediterranean Sea (see Daly Yahia et al, 2013). On 19 th September 2015, a large specimen of R. nomadica (with an umbrella of ~40 cm in diameter) was observed floating close to a rocky bottom at Punta Polacca (Nikà, Pantelleria Island, Trapani, Italy) (36.74416° N -11.98222° E), at 7 m depth (sea water temperature 26°C) (Fig.…”

Section: Figmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Mediterranean Biodiversity Records (October 2015)

Crocetta

Agius

Balistreri³

et al. 2015

Medit. Mar. Sci.

101

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Section: Figmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Mediterranean Biodiversity Records (October 2015)

Crocetta

Agius

Balistreri³

et al. 2015

Medit. Mar. Sci.

101

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“…Most large jellyfish are well known for feeding upon eggs and larvae of fish and crustaceans, but also for interacting strongly with human activities such as clogging fishing nets, damaging boat and power plant intakes and fishing gear and causing the closure of productive areas to fishing activities. Rhopilema nomadica, native to the Red Sea, has a bell diameter of up to 90 cm and can constitute dense rafts of up to dozen kilometres in length, drifting with the alongshore currents [129][130][131][132][133]. The jellyfish is spreading autochthonically as current-borne adults, reaching Maltese waters in 2004 [134], and then the Tunisian coasts in 2008 [132], where the species has established a reproducing population.…”

Section: Mediterranean Species and Ecosystemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rhopilema nomadica, native to the Red Sea, has a bell diameter of up to 90 cm and can constitute dense rafts of up to dozen kilometres in length, drifting with the alongshore currents [129][130][131][132][133]. The jellyfish is spreading autochthonically as current-borne adults, reaching Maltese waters in 2004 [134], and then the Tunisian coasts in 2008 [132], where the species has established a reproducing population. Phyllorhiza punctata, another pelagic species known previously only from Australia, the Philippines and Japan entered the Mediterranean Sea either through the Gibraltar strait or the Suez Canal via vessels, and most likely as sessile polyp stages attached to ship hulls or drilling rigs [135].…”

Section: Mediterranean Species and Ecosystemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Marine Biodiversity - Warming vs. Biological Invasions and overfishing in the Mediterranean Sea: Take care, ‘One Train can hide another’

Boudouresque¹

2017

MOJES

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Biodiversity means the variety of life, encompassing levels of complexity from within species to across ecosystems. Biodiversity therefore includes several dimensions: evolutionary scale (genetic, species, higher taxonomic levels and phylogenetic diversity), functional scale, organizational scale (patch, ecosystem, landscape/seascape diversity), spatial scale (from sample to local, regional and global richness) and heterogeneity diversity. Biodiversity can therefore be measured in different and complementary ways, thus involving the use of at least 200 different metrics, which can suggest different and contrasting conclusions. It is worth emphasizing that species richness may be the least appropriate metric, despite its popular acceptance. There is a growing tendency for stakeholders, managers, government officials, environmentalists, scientists, politicians and the media to focus, as concerns threats to biodiversity, on species richness and climate change. However, focusing on climate warming can mask other stressors that, today, and perhaps for decades to come, may have more impact on ecosystems than global warming. In the Mediterranean Sea, the overall impact of Non-Indigenous Species (NISs) and overfishing on species diversity, ecosystem diversity and ecosystem functioning exceeds to a greater or lesser degree the direct impact of warming. Drastically altered functioning patterns, and even new ecosystems are spreading throughout the Mediterranean Sea. This trend is likely to become more pronounced over the next decades. Ecosystem goods and services are also being profoundly altered, generally towards a decline, as illustrated by the overgrazed barren grounds of the eastern basin, which no longer support fisheries, by the impact of the Caulerpa meadows on the scuba diving business and the economic value of the fisheries of the western basin, by the brackish lagoon ecosystems and by the blooms of the introduced comb jelly Mnemiopsis leidyi in the Black Sea, before the arrival of its predator Beroe ovata. Here, we draw attention to the fact that, at this moment and probably also in the future, the huge flow of NISs and overfishing constitute worrying issues, although largely ignored by stakeholders and political authorities. Take care: Un train peut en cacher un autre (one train can hide another; i.e. one danger may hide other unsuspected dangers), that is to say the impact of warming may contribute to hiding other effects, of at least equal gravity, such as biological invasions and overfishing.

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“…Last, Rhopilema's stings result in envenomation effects that may last weeks and even months (Benmeir et al 1990). Its swarms have been recorded as far away as Tunisia (Daly Yahia et al 2013). The recent spread of a pufferfish, Lagocephalus sceleratus, throughout the Levant and westwards to Italy and Tunisia, poses severe health hazards: its internal organs contain tetrodotoxin, a strong paralytic neurotoxin, inducing symptoms ranging from vomiting to respiratory arrest, seizures, coma and death.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%