ANNALES ■ Ser. hist. nat. ■ 28 ■ 2018 ■ 1
short scientific article	DOI 10.19233/ASHN.2018.13
received: 2018-08-27
THE NORTHERNMOST RECORD OF THE THERMOPHILIC MEDITERRANEAN PARROTFISH SPARISOMA CRETENSE (LINNAEUS, 1758) (PERCIFORMES, SCARIDAE) IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN SEA
(NORTHWESTERN AEGEAN SEA)
Thodoros E. KAMPOURIS & Ioannis E. BATJAKAS
Marine Sciences Department, School of the Environment, University of the Aegean, University Hill, Mytilene,
Lesvos Island, 81100, Greece E-mail: mard16012@marine.aegean.gr
ABSTRACT
On July 2018 a specimen of the thermophilic fish Sparisoma cretense, commonly known as Mediterranean par-rotfish, was captured in the Thermaic Gulf in the northwestern Aegean Sea, Greece, constituting the first such record in the region. The species mainly inhabits the southeastern shores of the Mediterranean, and its presence is in line with previous records of other thermophilic species in the northern Aegean which can be associated with the rise of sea temperatures as one of the signs of climate change. This record is the northernmost in the Eastern Mediterranean and the second northernmost record for the whole Mediterranean basin.
Key words: Sparisoma cretense, thermophilic species, new records, biodiversity, climate change, Aegean Sea
RITROVAMENTO PIÙ A NORD DEL PESCE PAPPAGALLO MEDITERRANEO TERMOFILO SPARISOMA CRETENSE (LINNAEUS, 1758) (PERCIFORMES, SCARIDAE) NEL MEDITERRANEO ORIENTALE (MAR EGEO NORD-OCCIDENTALE)
SINTESI
Nel luglio 2018 un esemplare del pesce termofilo Sparisoma cretense, comunemente noto come pesce pappagal-lo mediterraneo, è stato catturato nel Golfo Termaico nel mar Egeo nord-occidentale, in Grecia, costituendo il primo ritrovamento della specie nella regione. La specie vive principalmente lungo le coste sud-orientali del Mediterraneo e la sua presenza è in linea con le precedenti segnalazioni di altre specie termofile nell'Egeo settentrionale, che possono venir associate all'innalzamento della temperatura del mare come uno dei segni del cambiamento climatico. Questo ritrovamento è il più settentrionale del Mediterraneo orientale e il secondo più settentrionale per l'intero bacino del Mediterraneo.
Parole chiave: Sparisoma cretense, specie termofile, nuovi ritrovamenti, biodiversità, cambiamenti climatici,
mar Egeo
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INTRODUCTION
The Mediterranean parrotfish, Sparisoma cretense (Linnaeus, 1758) is the only native parrotfish species of the Mediterranean Sea and can be added to the records of a few other temperate species within the Scaridae family (Froese & Pauly, 2018). So far, two alien Scaridae species have been reported within the Mediterranean, Chlorurus rhakoura Randall & Anderson, 1997 off the Italian coast (Insacco & Zava, 2017), and Scarus ghob-ban Forsskal, 1775 reported for the first time off the coasts of Israel in 2002 (Goren & Aronov, 2002).
The Mediterranean parrotfish occurs along the east coast of the Atlantic Ocean from Senegal to Portugal and within the Mediterranean Sea, mainly inhabiting the south and east coasts (Louisy, 2015). Similar to Thalassoma pavo (Linnaeus, 1758), the Mediterranean parrot fish is an ancient Mediterranean colonizer of Atlantic origin (Domingues et al., 2008). It can be found at a maximum depth of 50 m (Petrakis & Papaconstantinou, 1990), but more usually between 5-15 m of depth (Guidetti & Boero, 2002). Mainly active during the day (Azzurro et al., 2007; 2013), it is a herbivorous species feeding on algae and seagrasses, e.g. Posidonia oceanica (Linnaeus) Delile, 1813 (de Girolamo et al., 1999) and Cymodocea nodosa (Ucria) Ascherson, 1870 (Del Río et al., 2016). While the adult population prefers mixed habitats with seagrass meadows and reefs, juveniles display no such preferences (Espino et al., 2015). The species commonly measures from 14 to 32 cm (total length) (Petrakis & Papaconstantinou, 1990), but might grow as big as 52 cm (total length) (Filiz & Sevingel, 2015).
The Mediterranean parrotfish has a moderate longevity and is a slow-growing fish that may reach up to 8 years of age (Petrakis & Papaconstantinou, 1990). It spawns from July to September (Petrakis & Papaconstantinou, 1990; Guidetti & Boero, 2002), displays sexual dichromatism (de Girolamo et al., 1999) and a dual mating system, with either multi-male groups or one dominant male holding harems (Alfonso et al., 2002). The species has low economic importance but is locally exploited in the Dodecanese (Petrakis & Papaconstanti-
Fig. 1: The male S. cretense specimen captured off the Thermaic Gulf.
Sl. 1: Samec morske papige ujet v zalivu Thermaikos.
nou, 1990). Recent records from the northern Mediterranean coast, off Italy (Azzurro et al., 2011), from the Adriatic Sea, Croatia (Kruschel et al., 2012), from the northwest Greek Ionian Sea (Perdikaris et al., 2012), from Provence, France (Astruch et al., 2016), and from the Genoa Gulf, Italy (Bianchi et al., 2017), as well as observed expansions in the Aegean Sea, on both Greek and Turkish coasts (Papaconstantinou, 2014; Yapici et al., 2016), also suggest a correlation with the sea temperature rise and climate change (Fogarty et al., 2017).
MATERIAL AND METHODS
A single adult male S. cretense (Fig. 1) was caught on 23 July 2018 in the Thermaic Gulf, at approximately 40° 04' 10.7" N and 23° 19' 59.3" E (Fig. 2), by trammel nets with a mesh size of 22 mm, on hard bottom mixed with P. oceanica meadows. The depth ranged from 30 to 35 m. Morphometric and meristic data were obtained. Lengths (Tab. 1) were measured with the use of digital callipers to the nearest 0.01 mm. Weight (Tab. 1) was measured with an electronic scale to the nearest gram. The specimen was deposited at the Ichthyology laboratory of the Department of Marine Sciences, University of the Aegean.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The identification was based on the criteria description by Golani et al. (2006) and Louisy (2015). Table 1 presents the related morphometric and meristic data. This study reports the northernmost record in the eastern Mediterranean Sea as acknowledged by F.A.O (2018), and the second northernmost record in the whole basin
Fig. 2: Map of the Thermaic Gulf, NW Aegean Sea, indicating sampling location (black dot). Sl. 2: Zemljevid obravnavanega območja (zaliv Thermaikos, SZ Egejsko morje) z označeno lokaliteto ulova morske papige (črna pika).
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(see Kruschel et al., 2012 for details). The species was described by the fishermen as "never before seen," which further supports the importance of this finding.
The Aegean Sea has a complex topography (Olson et al., 2007). The area displays important physiochemical variations between north and south (Zervakis & Georgo-poulos, 2002). The northern Aegean Sea is an area of high productivity compared to the eastern Mediterranean, due to its interconnection with the Black Sea (Petihakis et al., 2014). Also, the northern Aegean Sea exhibits unique bottom topography features (the North Aegean Trough) that divide the area into three sub-basins: the Lemnos-Saros Islands Basin in the east, the Athos Basin in the centre, and the North Sporades Basin in the west (Zervakis & Georgopoulos, 2002, Olson et al., 2007).
Recently some thermophilic fish species, native and alien, were reported off the northern Aegean Sea, with Kampouris et al. (2013) reporting the first record of oilfish, Ruvettus pretiosus Cocco, 1833, from the Chalkidiki Peninsula. Minos & Economidis (2015) report further occurrences of the tripletail Lobotes surinamensis (Bloch, 1790) from the Thermaic Gulf. The most striking is perhaps the record of the alien fish Plectorhinchus gaterinus (Forsskal, 1775) from the Thracian Sea, with no further records along the southeast Aegean and Levantine coasts (Corsini-Foka & Sarlis, 2016), which presents similarities with the first report of the African surgeonfish Acanthurus monroviae Steindachner, 1876 in Hellenic waters (Batjakas et al., 2015).
CONCLUSIONS
The in-depth knowledge and experience of fishers has been recognized as a valuable source of scientific information that should be further acknowledged and utilized. Wider collaboration should be established among scientists, practitioners and policy makers (Azzuro et al., 2018). Moreover, the contribution of naturalists and citizen-scientists on biodiversity monitoring
Tab. 1: Morphometric and meristic characters of the S. cretense specimen captured off the Thermaic Gulf. Tab. 1: Morfometrija in meristični znaki pri morski papigi, ujeti v zalivu Thermaikos.
Morphometric characters	Value
Total length	262.57 mm
Standard length	218.78 mm
Head length	65.36 mm
Snout length	24.27 mm
Eye diameter	11.76 mm
Body depth	71.14 mm
Depth of caudal peduncle	34.24 mm
Max body width	34.94 mm
Min body width	26.57 mm
Weight	317 g
Meristic counts	
Dorsal fin	XI + 10
Anal fin	III+9
Pectoral fin	12
Pelvic fin	I+5
(e.g., Kampouris et al., 2018a) and on the detection and expansion of invasive alien species is already highly acknowledged (e.g. Kondylatos et al., 2017; Giovos et al., 2018; Kampouris et al., 2018b) and wider stakeholder synergies should be established.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Both authors are grateful to professional fishermen Dimitrios and Kyriakos Ganigiannis, for providing the specimen in view and sharing further information.
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