ISRAEL JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY, Vol. 50, 2004, pp. 419Ð422

NEW RECORDS

A new record of a stomatopod from the Mediterranean coast of Israel BELLA S. GALIL. National Institute of Oceanography, Israel Oceanographic & Limnological Research, P.O.B. 8030, Haifa 31080, Israel The stomatopods, or mantis shrimps, off the Mediterranean coast of Israel were studied by Lewinsohn and Manning (1980), who summarized what was then known about the Eastern Mediterranean stomatopod fauna: five were reported, three of which were based on (then) new records for the Israeli coast. A single specimen of eusebia (Risso, 1816) was collected by trawl net off Palmahim (31°57.94N, 34°42.15E) on 28 May 2004, in a Cymodocea nodosa (Ucria) Ascherson meadow at a depth of 8 m, in a sample dominated by Philocheras monacanthus (Holthuis, 1961). The specimen, an adult male, with length (measured from the tip of the apical spine of the rostral plate to the median posterior projection of the telson) of 32.5 mm, is deposited in the National Collections, Tel Aviv University (TAU AR27800). Platysquilla eusebia is distributed in the Mediterranean Sea and adjacent North Atlantic, off Portugal, France, and the west coast of Ireland (Manning, 1977). It was long considered “...absent from the Eastern Mediterranean basin, from where another nannosquilloid Nannosquiloides occultus (Giesbrecht) has been reported” (Froglia, 1992). However, it had been described later from the northern Adriatic Sea (Abed-Navandi and Dworschak, 1997) and from Lesbos Is., Greece (d’Udekem d’Acoz, 1995), though it had not been recorded previously from the Levantine basin. Its having been reported only now from Israel may be ascribed to its occurrence in a rarely examined habitat off our coast, and to its burrowing habits. Our specimen agrees well with the detailed description of the species (Risso, 1827; Manning and Camp, 1981). However, collecting a live specimen affords us the opportunity to note its color. Carapace and abdominal somites, marbled dull reddish-brown; thoracopods and pleopods, pale yellowish; lateral margins and apical spine of rostral plate dark brown, telson with dark stains submedially on posterior margin. REFERENCES Abed-Navandi, D., Dworschak, P.C. 1997. First record of the thalassinid Callianassa truncata Giard & Bonnier, 1890 in the Adriatic Sea (Crustacea: Decapoda: Callianassidae). Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien 99B: 565Ð570. Froglia, C. 1992. Stomatopod Crustacea of the Ligurian Sea. Doriana 6 (275): 1Ð10. Lewinsohn, Ch., Manning, R.B. 1980. Stomatopod Crustacea from the Eastern Mediterranean. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 305: 1Ð22. Manning, R.B. 1977. A monograph of the West African stomatopod Crustacea. Atlantide Report, 12: 25Ð181. Manning, R.B., Camp, D.K. 1981. A review of the Platysquilla complex (Crustacea, Stomatopoda, ), with the designation of two new genera. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 94(2): 591Ð597. Risso, A. 1827. Histoire naturelle des principales productions de l’Europe meridionale et particulierement de celles des environs de Nice et des Alpes Maritimes, 5: vii + 403 pp., Nice. D’Udekem d’Acoz, C. 1995. Contribution a la connaissance des crustaces decapods Helleniques II: Penaeidea, Stenopodidea, Palinuridea, Homaridea, Thalassinidea, Anomra, et note sur les stomadopodes. Bios 3: 51Ð7. 420 NEW RECORDS Isr. J. Zool.

Occurrence of the Lessepsian migrant fish, Sillago sihama (Forsskål, 1775) (Osteichthyes: Sillaginidae), from the Aegean Sea MURAT BILECENOGLU. Department of Hydrobiology, Faculty of Fisheries, Ege University, Bornova 35100, Izmir, Turkey On 7 July 2004, two specimens of Sillago sihama, which was previously unknown from this area, with standard lengths (SL) ranging from 148 to 157 mm, were obtained from Palamutbuku (36¼40′N, 27¼28′E; Datça peninsula, southern Aegean Sea). The specimens were collected by gill nets over a sandy bottom at a depth of 12 m, and deposited in the fish collection of Ege University, Department of Hydrobiology (catalogue no. 104). Diagnostic characters were as follows: first dorsal finrays 11, second dorsal finrays I + 21, anal finrays II + 21, pectoral finrays 16, lateral line scales 67Ð70. Body elongated, snout and head pointed. Mouth small and terminal, upper jaw slightly longer than lower. Villiform teeth present on jaws and on vomer; upper jaw teeth somewhat more developed than the lower. A flat triangular spine on the operculum at the level of upper point of pectoral fin base. First dorsal fin higher than the second; second dorsal fin and anal fin opposite to each other. Head length (HL) 28.4Ð30.6%, pre-dorsal length 35.0Ð35.1%, maxi- mum body depth 17.6Ð17.8%, all of SL. Eye diameter 22.9Ð23.8%, interorbital distance 20.8Ð 21.4%, snout length 37.5Ð38.1%, all of HL. Body color of the fresh specimens was silvery yellow, becoming paler through the belly. A longitudinal silvery stripe is present on the midlateral line. Both dorsal fins and caudal fin are dusky, other fins pale. All measurements, counts, and color patterns determined are in accordance with descriptions of Ben-Tuvia (1986) and McKay (1992). S. sihama has a widespread distribution throughout the Indo-Pacific, from south African coasts to Japan, the Red Sea, and northern Australia (McKay, 1992). In the Mediterranean Sea, it was first found during 1976 from the Lebanese coasts (Mouneimne, 1977) and in 1977 off the Israeli coasts (Ben-Tuvia, 1978). Successive records were given from the Cilician basin of Turkey and Egyptian coasts (see Golani et al., 2002). S. sihama was collected for the first time from the Aegean Sea. This finding also represents the northwesternmost distribution of the species within its known range in the Mediterranean Sea. The majority of the Lessepsian species have established popula- tions in the eastern Levant basin, but a gradually decreasing dispersal pattern is observed through the western and northwestern margins of the Lessepsian province. Among numerous causes that determine the fate of colonization success, temperature deserves priority since it probably hinders dispersal of immigrant fish to the cold waters of the Aegean Sea. However, southern Aegean Sea coasts are strongly under the influence of the Mediterranean waters, which clearly explains the majority of Lessepsian fish reported from this area but not more northerly (Papaconstantinou, 1987). Occurrence of S. sihama in the Aegean Sea does not clearly indicate an established population, but it may be the sign of a step-by-step process of migration.

REFERENCES Ben-Tuvia, A. 1978. Immigration of fishes through the Suez Canal. Fish. Bull. 76: 249Ð255. Ben-Tuvia, A. 1986. Sillaginidae. In: Whitehead, P.J.P., Bauchot, M.-L., Hureau, J.-C., Nielsen, J., Tortonese, E., eds. Fishes of the north-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean, Vol. 2. Paris, Unesco, pp. 875Ð876. Golani, D., Orsi-Relini, L., Massuti, E., Quignard, J.P. 1992. Fishes, Vol.1. In: Briand, F., ed. CIESM atlas of exotic species in the Mediterranean. CIESM Publications, Monaco, 254 pp. McKay, R.J. 1992. Sillaginid fishes of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of the sillago, smelt or IndoÐPacific whiting species known to date. FAO Fisheries Synopsis, No.125, Vol. 14, 87 pp.