Frontiers in Marine Science (Nov 2015)
On some rarely caught fish in the southeastern Aegean Sea (Greece, Eastern Mediterranean)
Abstract
The marine region of the Dodecanese Islands (Greece) is heavily affected by climate changes, intensification of anthropogenic interferences and biological invasions. Its ichthyofauna diversity is still poorly known, despite the development of marine research during the last decades, both in shallow and deep waters, and the increasing interest of fishermen to biodiversity knowledge and conservation. Regardless of its oligotrophic character, with only 1-3 % of the total Greek fishery production (ELSTAT, 2015), at least 60 % of the total fish species known in the Hellenic seas (510) has been recorded in the area (Papaconstantinou, 2014). Between 2009 and 2014, 14 uncommon species - Alopias superciliosus, Gymnura altavela, Aulopus filamentosus, Sudis hyalina, Gymnothorax unicolor, Ophisurus serpens, Nemichthys scolopaceus, Lophotus lacepede, Naucrates ductor, Alectis alexandrinus, Brama brama, Pomadasys incisus, Schedophilus ovalis and Mola mola - were captured. The first records of P. incisus and S. ovalis in the area significantly enlarge their known distribution in the Hellenic Aegean waters (Papaconstantinou, 2014). The capture of L. lacepede (approx. 140 cm total length) in Patmos (2011) confirms the occurrence of this rare species in the Dodecanese, given that a juvenile is preserved at the Hydrobiological Station of Rhodes since the 1950s, and constitutes the third official record in the Aegean waters, after Gökova Bay and Chalkidiki findings (Bilecenoğlu et al., 2001; Minos et al., 2013). The captures of S. hyalina (2011) and N. scolopaceus (2014) confirm their occurrence some years after their first reports in the same area in 2004 and 2002 respectively (Corsini-Foka, 2009). The occurrence of A. superciliosus, a species infrequent in local fishery, is poorly documented in the Mediterranean and the species is considered scarce or rare in the basin (Madiraca and Davidov, 2015). The scattered records of the remaining above species contribute to monitor their presence in local fishery. Apart from A. filamentosus caught at 200 m and S. hyalina and B. brama from 400-500 m of depth, all the other species were collected between surface and 70 m. The above records contribute to fill gaps on the knowledge of rarely caught native fish distribution, improving assessment of the whole Hellenic biodiversity.
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