The Islamic University of Gaza الجــــــــــامعة اﻹســــــــــﻻميـة بغــــــــــــــــــزة Deanship of Research and Graduate Studies عمادة البحث العممي والدراسات العميا Faculty of Science كــــميـــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــة العـمـــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــوم Biological Sciences Master Program ماجـســــــــتيـر العمــــــــــــــوم الحـياتيــــــــــة )Zoology) عمـــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــم حيـــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــوا A Survey of Marine Bony Fishes of the Gaza Strip, Palestine ِـخ ٌﻷؿّان اؼٌظٍّح اٌثذغٌح فً لطاع غؼج، فٍـطٍٓ By Huda E. Abu Amra B.Sc. Biology Supervised by Dr. Abdel Fattah N. Abd Rabou Associate Professor of Environmental Sciences A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Biological Science (Zoology) August, 2018 إلــــــــــــــغاع أٔا اٌّىلغ أصٔاٖ ِمضَ اٌغؿاٌح اٌتً تذًّ اؼٌٕىاْ: A Survey of Marine Bony Fishes in the Gaza Strip, Palestine ِـخ ٌﻷؿّان اؼٌظٍّح اٌثذغٌح فً لطاع غؼج، فٍـطٍٓ أقش تأٌ يا اشرًهد عهّٛ ْزِ انشعانح إًَا ْٕ َراض جٓذ٘ انخاص، تاعرصُاء يا ذًد اﻹشاسج إنّٛ حٛصًا ٔسد، ٔأٌ ْزِ انشعانح ككم أٔ أ٘ جضء يُٓا نى ٚقذو يٍ قثم اٜخشٍٚ نُٛم دسجح أٔ نقة عهًٙ أٔ تحصٙ نذٖ أ٘ يؤعغح ذعهًٛٛح أٔ تحصٛح أخشٖ. Declaration I understand the nature of plagiarism, and I am aware of the University’s policy on this. The work provided in this thesis, unless otherwise referenced, is the researcher's own work, and has not been submitted by others elsewhere for any other degree or qualification. اعى انطانثح ْذٖ عٛذ عٛذ أتٕ عًشج :Student's name انرٕقٛع Signature: Huda انراسٚخ Date: 8-8-2018 I ٔتٍجح اٌذىُ ػٍى أطغودح ِاجـتٍغ II Abstract The East Mediterranean Sea is home to a wealth of marine resources including the bony fishes (Class Osteichthyes), which constitute a capital source of protein worldwide. The marine bony fishes caught in the Gaza Strip have never been scientifically studied. Hence, the current study, which is the first of its kind in the Gaza Strip, aims at surveying the marine bony fishes caught and displayed for sale at the El-Hesba and auction markets located proximate to the Gaza Fishing Harbor of the Gaza Strip. Many visits were carried out in the early morning times to the markets in question to survey the caught bony fishes. Photos were taken for documentary and confirmatory purposes. A considerable number of fish samples were preserved in formalin 10% at the Department of Biology, Islamic University of Gaza. A total of 128 bony fish species belonging to 56 families and 15 orders were identified and recorded. Perciformes was the biggest order and comprised 63% of recorded species. Sparidae was the biggest family and comprised 17% of recorded species. Of the recorded species, 70% were native, and 30% were exotic. The majority of exotic species seems to be Lessepsian migrants. Many poisonous and dangerous bony fishes were caught and sold in the fish market of the Gaza Strip. Two- thirds of species 67% were of least concern depending on the global conservation agencies. Many threats face the Gaza marine environment and its bony fish resources, of which the Israeli restrictions on Gaza fishing zone and fishermen, poor fishing gear, overfishing, catch of young, fry and juvenile fishes, and marine pollution by raw and partially treated wastewater disposal, are striking examples. Finally, the current study recommends a good cooperation between the responsible Palestinian parties to improve the environmental health status of the marine environment and harsh conditions of fishing and Gazan fishermen to ensure sustainable marine resources. The scientific manipulation of Gaza marine resources should be enhanced and supported as well. Keywords: East Mediterranean, survey, bony fishes, exotic species, Lessepsian migrants, marine environment, Gaza Strip. III Abstract in Arabic اٌٍّشض ٚعرثش شرش انثحرش ايترٛل انًرٕعرط يٕغُرا بُٛرا تصرشٔاخ انًرٕاسد انثحشٚرح، تًرا كٛٓرا ايعرًا انع ًٛرح الـــــي ذشكم يصذسا أعاعٛا نهثرشٔذٍٛ انحٛرٕاَٙ كرٙ جًٛرع أَحراء انعرانى. نرى ٚررى إجرشاء دساعراخ عهًٛرح عاتـقــــــــــــرـح تخصٕص يغح ايعًا انع ًٛح انرٙ ذى اصطٛادْا كٙ قطاع بضج، ٔيٍ شى كاٌ انذساعح انحانٛح ْٙ ائنٗ يرٍ َٕعٓررا كررٙ قطرراع بررضج، حٛررس ذٓررذ إنررٗ يغررح ايعررًا انع ًٛررح انثحشٚررح انرررٚ ٙرررى صررٛذْا ٔعش ررٓا كررٙ عـــــــــٕقٙ انحغثح ٔانًضاد انعهُٙ انقشٚثٍٛ يٍ يُٛاء انصٛذ كٙ بضج. خﻻل انذساعح انحانٛرح أجشٚرد انعذٚرذ يرٍ انضٚرراساخ كررٙ أٔقرراخ انصررثا انثرراكش إنررٗ انغررٕقٍٛ انًررزكٕسٍٚ نًغررح ايعررًا انع ًٛررح ٔانرقطررد صررٕس عذٚررذج يبررشاا انرٕشٛررل ٔانرأكٛررذ. ذررى ح ررس عررذد ا تررأط تررّ يررٍ انعُٛرراخ انغررًكٛح كررٙ يحهررٕل ان ٕسيررانٍٛ 01% كررٙ يخرثشاخ قغى ايحٛاء تانجايعح اﻹعﻻيٛح تغضج. ذررى يغررح ٔذغررجٛم 021 َٕعررا يررٍ ايعررًا انع ًٛررح ذُرًررٙ انررٗ 65 عائهررح 06ٔ سذثررح. ٔقررذ كاَررد سذثررح شٕكٛررـح انضعاَف )Perciformes( ْرٙ انشذثرح ايكثرش ٔقرذ شركهد 53% َٕعرا يرٍ ايَرٕاع انًغرجهح، ٔقرذ كاَرد عائهرح ايعــثٕسٚـاخ )ْٙ )Sparidae أكثش عائهح ٔ ًد 01% َٕعا يٍ ايَرٕاع انًغرجهح. تُٛرد انذساعرح أٌ %11 يرٍ ايَررٕاع انًغرجهح ْررم أْهٛرح أٔ يرٕغُررح تًُٛررا 31% ْرٙ أَررٕاع دخٛهرح أٔ باصٚررح، ٔإٌ جرم ايعررًا انذخٛهررح عثرراسج عررٍ أعررًا يٓرراجشج عثررش قُرراج انغررٕٚظ )Lessepsian Migrants(. إٌ انعذٚررذ يررٍ ايعررًا انغررايح ٔانخطٛشج ٚرى صٛذْا ٔتٛعٓا كٙ ايعٕا انغًكٛح كٙ قطاع بضج. إٌ شهصٙ ايَٕاع 51% ذُصُف عهٗ أَٓا قهٛهح ايًْٛح )Least Concern( ذثعا نٕكااخ انح س انعانًٛح. ذٕاجررّ انثٛ ررح انثحشٚررح ٔيررٕاسد ايعررًا انع ًٛررح كررٙ قطرراع بررضج انعذٚررذ يررٍ انًٓررذداخ ٔانرررٙ يُٓررا انقٛررٕد انرررٙ ذ ش ٓا إعرشائٛم عهرٗ يُطقرح انصرٛذ ٔ انصرٛادٍٚ كرٙ قطراع برضج، ٔ رعف أعرطٕل ٔيعرذاخ انصرٛذ انغرًكٙ، ٔانصٛذ انغًكٙ انجائش تاﻹ اكح إنٗ انرهٕز انثحش٘ عٍ غشٚـل ذصشٚف انًٛاِ انعاديح انخاو أٔ انًعانجح جضئٛا كررٙ انثحررش. أخٛررشا، ذٕصررٙ انذساعررح تنررشٔسج ذعررأٌ ٔذكرراذف انًحاكررم ان هغررطُٛٛح انًغررؤٔنح نرحغررٍٛ انٕ ررع انصحٙ ٔانثٛ رٙ نهثٛ رح انثحشٚرح، ٔذحغرٍٛ حانرح انصرٛذ انغرًكٙ ٔائ راع انصرعثح نهصرٛادٍٚ انغرضٍٛٚ ننرًاٌ اعرذايح انًٕاسد انثحشٚح، كًا ٚجة دعى ٔذعضٚض ااْرًاياخ انعهًٛح انخاصح تًٕاسد قطاع بضج انثحشٚــــح. انكهًاخ انً رـاحٛح: شش انثحش ايتٛل انًــرٕعط، يغح، ايعًا انع ــًٛح، ايعــًا انذخٛهح، انًٓاجــشٌٔ انهغثٛغٌٕٛ، انثٛ ح انثحشٚح، قطاع بضج. IV ﭧﭐﭨﭐﱡﭐ ﱁ ﱂ ﱃ ﱄ ﱅ ﱆ ﱇ ﱈﱠ ]المائدة: 69[ V Dedication I present this work to those who do not scrimp on me at any moment or condition to provide the best circumstances for my success, to my heart and soul my parents ♥♥♥. To my wonderful brothers for their endless love and support ♥♥♥. To my husband and to my daughters and sons ♥♥♥. To my teachers, friends and great family ♥♥♥. To the souls of the martyrs of Palestine. To all Palestinian people all over the world. VI Acknowledgment I am grateful to Allah, who granted me life, power, peace and courage to finish this study. I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Abdel Fattah N. Abd Rabou, Associate Professor of Environmental Sciences, , who did not spare any effort to overcome all the difficulties aroused during this study and for his constructive scientific advice. I would like also to express my sincere gratitude to all members of zoology lab in the biology department at Islamic university in particular Mr. Ashraf Al-Shafii. I would like to express my gratitude to Prof. Mohammed R. Al-Agha, Department of Environmental and Earth Science and to Dr. Eyad M. Atallah, Deputy Director General of the Department of fisheries. I would like also to express my sincere gratitude to all members in Directorate General of Fisheries, in particular Mr. Mohammed E. Abutair, Director of Marine Environment Control. Mr. Adel J. Attallah, Director General of the Department of Fisheries and Mr. Jehad U. Salah, Director of Fishermen Affairs. Special thanks also go to Mr. Ayman W. Dardona, Researcher and local expert in Biodiversity, in Environment Quality Authority (EQA) Finally, profuse thanks, love and appreciations to my lovely parents, my brothers, my family and my friends for all unlimited support and encouragement they provided me. VII Table of Contents Declaration .................................................................................................................... I Abstract ...................................................................................................................... III Abstract in Arabic ...................................................................................................... IV Dedication .................................................................................................................. VI Acknowledgment ...................................................................................................... VII Table of Contents ..................................................................................................... VIII List of Tables ............................................................................................................... X List of Figures ............................................................................................................ XI Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 1 1.1 Overview .......................................................................................................... 2 0.2 Objectives......................................................................................................... 4 0.2.0 General Objective ..................................................................................... 4 1.2.2 Specific Objectives ................................................................................... 4 1.3 Problem