short scientific article	DOI 10.19233/ASHN.2016.20
received: 2016-09-01
FIRST RECORD OF THE TRIPLETAIL LOBOTES SURINAMENSIS (PISCES: LOBOTIDAE) IN THE LAGOON OF MARANO AND GRADO (GULF OF TRIESTE, NORTHERN ADRIATIC SEA)
Nicola BETTOSO
ARPA FVG, via A. La Marmora 1 3, 341 39 Trieste, Italy e-mail: nicola.bettoso@arpa.fvg.it
Giovanni COMISSO
Riserva Naturale Regionale "Valle Canal Novo", via delle Valli 2, 33050 Marano Lagunare (UD), Italy
Petar KRUŽIČ
Laboratory for Marine Biology - Department of Biology, Rooseveltov trg 6, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
ABSTRACT
On 18th July 2016 one specimen of tripletail Lobotes surinamensis (Bloch, 1790) (Lobotidae) was caught by fishermen in the Lagoon of Marano and Grado (Gulf of Trieste). This is the first record in the northernmost area of the Adriatic Sea and Mediterranean, too.
Key words: tripletail, Lobotes surinamensis, Lagoon of Marano and Grado, Gulf of Trieste, northern Adriatic Sea.
PRIMA SEGNALAZIONE DEL PESCE FOGLIA LOBOTES SURINAMENSIS (PISCES: LOBOTIDAE) NELLA LAGUNA DI MARANO E GRADO (GOLFO DI TRIESTE, ALTO ADRIATICO)
SINTESI
Il 18 luglio 2016 un esemplare di pesce foglia Lobotes surinamensis (Bloch, 1790) (Lobotidae) e stato catturato dai pescatori nella Laguna di Marano e Grado (Golfo di Trieste). Questa cattura rappresenta la prima segnalazione nell'area piu settentrionale del Mare Adriatico, Mediterraneo compreso.
Parole chiave: pesce foglia, Lobotes surinamensis, Laguna di Marano e Grado, Golfo di Trieste, Alto Adriatico
INTRODUCTION
The tripletail Lobotes surinamensis (Bloch, 1790) has a worldwide distribution in marine and brackish tropical and subtropical waters (Sazima et al., 2009 and reference therein), whereas in the Mediterranean Sea is considered a rare species (Akyol & Kara, 2012).
The first written record of this fish in the Mediterranean basin comes from Sicilian waters (Doderlein, 1875), since then its presence was mainly recorded in the southern area: Ben-Tuvia (1953) and Golani (1996, 1997) in Israeli waters; Bini (1968) off Calabria (Italy); Tortonese (1975) off Rhodes (Greece), Turkey and Lebanon; Palom (1991) in Barcelona waters (first record for the Iberic ichthyofauna); Bradai (2000) in Tunisian waters and Hemida et al. (2003) off Algeria. The first record in the Adriatic Sea arose to June 2010, when a specimen was caught off Island Biševo (Central Adriatic) (Dulcic & Dragicevic, 2011), whereas in December 2011 a male was captured in Mali Ston Bay, southern Adriatic (Dulcic et al., 2014a); on May 2013 it was recorded in the northern Adriatic Sea (Raša Bay, southern coast of Istrian Peninsula) (Dulcic et al., 2014b).
The present paper represents the first record in the Lagoon of Marano and Grado and for the Gulf of Trieste, which is the northernmost area of the Adriatic Sea and Mediterranean too.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
One specimen of L. surinamensis was caught on 18th July 2016, using the fyke nets. As the fishermen sold it immediately, we were able to obtain only the total weight from the fish market of Marano Lagunare, whereas the total length can be approximately estimated by the expanded polystyrene box used for fish packaging (50 x 32 cm) (Fig. 1). The species identification was based on the photograph, according to Rounds & Feeney (1993): the distinctive shape of the dorsal and anal fins along with the caudal fin gives the tail a 'trilobed' appearance.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The capture of Lobotes surinamensis was located 1 km off Stella River mouth in the Lagoon of Marano and Grado (Fig. 2), at a depth of approximately 1 m, on muddy sediment. The total weight was 2.9 kg and the total length about 500 mm. The one who bought this specimen has observed the presence of eggs mass inside, therefore we could speculate it was a female. Strelcheck et al. (2004) noted that fifty percent of female analyzed in the Gulf of Mexico reached sexual maturity by 494 to 594 mm of total length and approximately 1 to 2 years of age. In this way the specimen caught in the lagoon can represent the first adult female caught in the Adriatic Sea, compared to previous records of Dulcic & Dragicevic (2011), Dulcic et al. (2014b) and Dulcic et al. (2014a), who found two relatively juvenile individuals and a male specimen respectively. In October 2015 a
Fig. 1: Lobotes surinamensis caught in the Lagoon of Marano and Grado (Photo: P. Dal Forno). Sl. 1: Primerek vrste Lobotes surinamensis, ujet v maran-ski in gradeški laguni (Foto: P. Dal Forno).
Fig. 2: Map of the Gulf of Trieste with the location of the record in the Lagoon of Marano and Grado. Sl. 2: Zemljevid Tržaškega zaliva z označeno lokaliteto ulova v maranski in gradeški laguni.
specimen was officially recorded for the first time in the Italian Adriatic coast (Manfredonia, southern Adriatic), but size data are not available (Dailianis et al., 2016).
Tripletails usually occur in bays (Myers, 1999) and brackish estuaries (Brown-Peterson & Franks, 2001; Strelcheck et al., 2004) or sometimes in the open sea where they can be associated with floating objects (Massuti & Renones, 1994). Juvenile specimens may occur in floating Sargassum and mimic a floating leaf to camouflage against predators (Myers, 1999). Similar behavior is also known for adults, which are often observed floating on their sides at the surface probably to avoid predators and to ambush their prey (Massuti & Renones, 1994). The maximum total length reported for this species is 1 m, adults are bentho-pelagic and feed on small fishes and benthic crustaceans (Dailianis et al., 2016), which are very abundant in the Lagoon of Marano and Grado (Bettoso et al., 2013). Ounifi-Ben Amor et al. (2016) found large quantities of spheromatid isopods and amphipods in the stomach content of two females caught in the Tunis southern lagoon. In addition Merriner & Foster (1974) state that L. surinamensis feeds mainly on clupeids, whereas Franks et al. (2003) reported a diet
composition constituted by 49.4% of crustaceans and 50.6% of bony fishes. Finally Zava et al. (2007) found two specimens of Naucrates ductor in the stomach of a tripletail caught in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea.
Findings of L. surinamensis in the Adriatic Sea are probably a consequence of increased abundance of this species in the southern Mediterranean waters amplified by the changes in hydrological conditions in the area (Dulcic et al., 2014a). It seems that this species recently established its population in the area of Maltese islands which is indicated by the presence of juveniles (Deidun et al., 2010). This record reveals its appearance in the northernmost area of the Mediterranean Sea. Further observations will be necessary to learn more about the ecology of the tripletail in this basin.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We wish to thank fishermen Pietro Dal Forno and Tiziano Ghenda from Marano Lagunare, Dr. Alessandro D'Aietti for technical assistance, Dr. Diego Borme e Dr. Luca Castriota for the confirming of identification.
PRVI ZAPIS O POJAVLJANJU VRSTE LOBOTES SURINAMENSIS (PISCES: LOBOTIDAE) V MARANSKI IN GRADEŠKI LAGUNI (TRŽAŠKI ZALIV, SEVERNI JADRAN)
Nicola BETTOSO
ARPA FVG, via A. La Marmora 1 3, 341 39 Trieste, Italy e-mail: nicola.bettoso@arpa.fvg.it
Giovanni COMISSO
Riserva Naturale Regionale "Valle Canal Novo", via delle Valli 2, 33050 Marano Lagunare (UD), Italy
Petar KRUŽIČ
Laboratory for Marine Biology - Department of Biology, Rooseveltov trg 6, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
POVZETEK
Osemnajstega julija 2016 so ribiči ujeli primerek ribje vrste Lobotes surinamensis (Bloch, 1790) (Lobotidae) v maranski in gradeški laguni (Tržaški zaliv). To je prvi zapis o pojavljanju te vrste v najsevernejšem predelu Jadranskega in obenem Sredozemskega morja.
Ključne besede: trirepka, Lobotes surinamensis, maranska in gradeška laguna, Tržaški zaliv, severni Jadran.
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