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Non-indigenous ascidians (Chordata: Tunicata) along the Mediterranean coast of Israel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2009

Noa Shenkar  and
Yossi Loya
Noa Shenkar*
Affiliation:
Biology Department, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
Yossi Loya
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: N. Shenkar, Biology Department, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington email: [email protected]
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Abstract

One of the most extensively documented marine bioinvasion phenomena is the invasion of Red Sea species to the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal. The present study reports the occurrence of seven non-indigenous ascidian species along the Mediterranean coast of Israel: Ecteinascidia thurstoni, Ascidia cannelata, Phallusia nigra, Rhodosoma turcicum, Symplegma brakenhielmi, Microcosmus exasperatus and Herdmania momus. Five of these species (excluding P. nigra, and R. turcicum) probably reached the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal, since they have an extra-tropical Indo-Pacific distribution and a restricted distribution in the eastern Mediterranean. This is the first record of E. thurstoni in the Mediterranean. The accumulating evidence for the negative impact of non-indigenous ascidians on local species and habitats raises the necessity for long-term studies and monitoring of this group.

Keywords

non-indigenous ascidiansChordataTunicataMediterranean coast of Israel
Type
Research Article
Information
Marine Biodiversity Records , Volume 2 , January 2009 , e166
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2009

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