Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Research (2016) 42, 479–489 HOSTED BY National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Research http://ees.elsevier.com/ejar www.sciencedirect.com FULL LENGTH ARTICLE Deep-sea ichthyofauna from Eastern Mediterranean Sea, Egypt: Update and new records Mahmoud M.S. Farrag Marine Science & Fishes branch, Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University (Assiut Branch), 71524 Assiut, Egypt Received 29 February 2016; revised 21 December 2016; accepted 21 December 2016 Available online 13 January 2017 KEYWORDS Abstract This work sheds light on deep sea resources that update the list of deep sea ichthyoids New records; fauna with new records from the Egyptian coast, Mediterranean Sea. Fish samples were collected Deep-sea ichthyofauna; from April to November 2015 at depths of 350–750 m using deep red shrimp bottom trawlers. The Mediterranean Sea; presented fauna were constituted mainly of deep red shrimp (Aristeomorpha folicea and Aristeus Egypt antennatus) as target species followed by by-catch and discards which were represented by 36 fish species; Of them, 21 species were recorded previously. The rest of the species, were new ichthy- ofauna identified in fifteen species including 4 cartilaginous species (Centrophorus uyato, Etmopterus spinax, Hydrolagus mirabilis and Chimaera monstrosa), while the other 11 species were bony fishes (Chauliodus sloani, Diaphus metopoclampus, Sudis hyaline, Microstoma microstoma, Chlorophthal- mus agassizi, Avocettina infans, Argyropelecus hemigymnus, Notacanthus bonaparte, Lampanyctus crocodilus, Centrolophus niger and Nettastoma melanurum). Centrophorus uyato was reported for the first time in the Levant Basin. The present findings added new species to the Egyptian ichthyofauna and raised the total known deep water fauna to 38 species, enhancing knowledge about such species requires continuous monitoring and studies on deep sea resources. Ó 2016 Hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Introduction oceanographic cruises of the Thor (1908) and Dana (1928– 29) also extended investigation from the Atlantic to the whole The ecosystems of deep sea waters are the target of fish indus- Mediterranean, even catching deep-sea fish at depths greater tries over the world. This has resulted in the decrease in fish than 1,000 m (Taning, 1918). All these cruises increased the communities particularly on the continental shelves due to knowledge of fish taxonomy and biodiversity (Ryland, 2000). over fishing (Merrett and Haedrich, 1997). In the Mediter- The deep demersal fisheries in western and central parts of ranean Sea, the exploration knowledge of the deep-sea fauna the Mediterranean are exploited by trawl fishing that mainly was mainly provided by the expeditions of Hirondelle and target red shrimp and is carried out in the Spanish and Italian Princesse Alice (1888–1922); their ichthyologic data are Mediterranean waters down to 800–1000 m of depth; hence, reported in Zugmayer (1911) and Roule (1919). The Danish the knowledge comes from scientific research (Sarda and Cartes, 1994; D’onghia et al., 1998; Ungaro et al., 1999). At the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea, particularly the E-mail address: [email protected] Egyptian coast, most fishing activities did not operate at a Peer review under responsibility of National Institute of Oceanography depth greater than 250 m. In addition to that, other demersal and Fisheries. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejar.2016.12.005 1687-4285 Ó 2016 Hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). 480 M.M.S. Farrag fisheries’ surveys along the western and eastern Egyptian Results Mediterranean waters were carried out by ‘‘R/V salsabil” dur- ing 2008–2010. These studies, which were administrated by the The present study has shown species diversity of deep seawater National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries (NIOF) of in the Mediterranean Sea, Egypt, mainly constituted of two Egypt, do not explore deeper water. Therefore, a lot of deep deep red shrimp (Aristeomorpha folicea and Aristeus antenna- water ichthyofauna remains unknown. Recently, the first work tus) as target species followed by by-catch and discards which in the Egyptian Mediterranean waters that conducted deep were represented by 36 fish species; they were dominated by water at depth greater than 400 m made it possible to catch Merluccius merluccius. Of them, 21 species were identified deep water red shrimp and other ichthyofauna as by-catch and recorded previously (Table 1). The rest of the species, (Ibrahim et al., 2011). However, knowledge about deep sea which were composed of fifteen fish species, were recorded ecosystems is still limited. The main objective of this paper is for the first time. They included 4 cartilaginous species (Cen- to update the knowledge of the deep sea ichthyoids fauna in trophorus uyato, Etmopterus spinax, Hydrolagus mirabilis and Egyptian Mediterranean waters through trawling survey tar- Chimaera monstrosa). The other 11 species, on the other hand, geting deep red shrimp at a depth greater than 400 m. were bony fish (Chauliodus sloani, Diaphus metopoclampus, Materials and methods The deep-sea ichthyofauna were collected from the deep-sea Table 1 Deepwater fish species from Mediterranean Sea, cruises of the commercial fishing operations in the Mediter- Egypt collected during this study (Recorded previously). ranean Sea, Egypt during the spring of 2015 off Al-Arish (5 Family Scientific Name Common hauls) and the autumn 2015 off Alexandria (25 hauls) Name (Fig. 1). The fishing operations were constructed using Italian F. Dasyatidae (I) Sharks and Rays Dasyatis Common bottom trawlers at depths ranging from 350 to 800 m targeting pastinaca (Linnaeus, 1758) stingray deep Red Shrimp (Family: Aristeidae), where the fishes are F. Rajidae Dipterus oxyrinchus Long nosed considered by catch and discard. The available ichthyofauna (Linnaeus, 1758) skate was collected and preserved in formalin 10% (for small speci- F. Rajidae Raja asterias (Delaroche, Starry ray mens); then identified using Whitehead et al. (1984–1986) and 1809) Fish base (2010) keys. Their biometric data were recorded and F. Rajidae Rostroraja alba (Lacepe` de, Bottle nosed the following abbreviations were used: TL is total length, SL is 1803) skate standard length, D1 is first dorsal fin, D2 is second dorsal fin, F. Torpedinidae Torpedo tokionis (Tanaka, Trapezoid 1908) torpedo AN is anal fin, P is Pectoral fin and V is pelvic fin. Following F. Echinorhinus brucus Bramble shark that, the new fish species were described in detail. Echinorhinidae (Bonnaterre, 1788) F. Hexanchidae Hexanchus griseus Blunt nose six (Bonnaterre, 1788) gill shark F. Scyliorhinidae Galeus melastomus Black mouth (Rafinesque, 1810) cat shark F. Bothidae (II) Bony Fishes Arnoglossus Thor’s scald thori (Kyle, 1913) fish F. Congridae Conger conger (Linnaeus, European 1758) conger F. Macrouridae Nezumia aequalis (Gu¨ nther, Common 1878) Atlantic grenadier F. Merlucciidae Merluccius merluccius European hake (Linnaeus, 1758) F. Myctophidae Ceratoscopelus maderensis Lantern fish (Lowe, 1839) F. Ophichthidae Ophisurus serpens (Linnaeus, Serpent eel 1758) F. Phycidae Phycis blennoides (Bru¨ nnich, Greater fork 1768) beard F. Lepidorhombus boscii (Risso, Four spotted Scophthalmidae 1810) megrim F. Sebastidae Helicolenus dactylopterus Black belly dactylopterus (Delaroche, rosefish 1809) F. Hoplostethus mediterraneus Mediterranean Trachichthyidae mediterraneus (Cuvier, 1829) slime head F. Trichiuridae Lepidopus caudatus Silver scabbard (Euphrasen, 1788) fish F. (III) Cephalopods Illex na Ommastrephidae coindetii (Verany, 1839) Figure 1 Map showing the study area in the Egyptian F. Todaropsis eblanae (Ball, na Mediterranean water. Ommastrephidae 1841) Deep-sea ichthyofauna 481 Sudis hyaline, Microstoma microstoma, Aulopus filamentosus, above the 5th gill slit. An absence of annals fin is recorded. The Avocettina infans, Argyropelecus hemigymnus, Notacanthus caudal fin with poorly defined sub-terminal notch is on the bonaparte, Lampanyctus crocodilus, Centrolophus niger and upper lobe, while the lower lobe is poorly differentiated. Der- Nettastoma melanurum) as shown in Table 2. The description mal denticles and median spine are obvious. Photospheres are of each species is as follows: present ventrally. It is of a brown color on top, with a pale spot between the eyes and a dark stripe along the lateral line. Black Centrophorus uyato (Rafinesque, 1810) dominates the lower part with a distinctive dark pattern on the ventral surface. A pale spot between the eyes can be seen. The bases of the dorsal, pectoral and pelvic fins are dark with the It was previously classified as Squalus uyato Rafinesque, 1810 tips of dorsal and ventral lobes of the caudal fin being black. (Fishbase, 2010). It is a small shark with a long, narrow snout (Fig. 2B). and an extended inner corner of pectoral fins which are mod- erately narrow pointed. It has two dorsal fins, with one spine on each; the first dorsal fin is higher than the second one. Hydrolagus mirabilis (Collett, 1904) Anadipose fin is absent. Dermal denticles are close-set but do not overlap. They are without stalks, but are thorn-like, The body is a long whip-like filament at the end of the caudal