Melih Ertan Çinar

Ege University · Faculty of Fisheries

Didemnum vexillum is an aggressive, rapidly growing colonial ascidian and regarded as a global alien invasive species in temperate waters. It has recently become established in the western Mediterranean and the vectors of its introduction were assumed to be shipping or oyster trade. A dense settlement of it was encountered on nets of the bluefin tu...

The critically endangered bivalve species, the pen shell Pinna nobilis, has been suffering from an epidemic disease in the Mediterranean Sea, and its populations have totally disappeared in many areas across the basin. The Sea of Marmara’s populations of the pen shell, which were previously assumed to have remained unaffected by the epidemic diseas...

This study compiled data on the distribution of sponge species along the coasts of countries bordering the Levantine and Aegean Seas (eastern Mediterranean). The checklist comprises 313 species belonging to 67 families, 23 orders, and 4 classes. Out of these species, 37 species are endemic to the Eastern Mediterranean and 77 species are endemic to...

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This work presents refined, updated subregional and regional non-indigenous species (NIS) inventories for the Mediterranean Sea, validated by national and taxonomic experts, with species records observed until December 2020. These datasets will be used as the baselines for the implementation of the Integrated Monitoring and Assessment Programme for...

This work presents refined, updated subregional and regional non-indigenous species (NIS) inventories for the Mediterranean Sea, validated by national and taxonomic experts, with species records observed until December 2020. These datasets will be used as the baselines for the implementation of the Integrated Monitoring and Assessment Programme for...

Due to the presence of companion chaetae on the thoracic notopodia, a feature unnoticed on the material of the original description, the species Pseudobranchiomma tarantoensis (Knight-Jones & Giangrande, 2003) and P. marmarensis (Çinar & Giangrande, 2018) are here transferred to different genera; the former to the genus Sabella Linnaeus, 1767 and t...

A single specimen of the invasive alien species Phyllorhiza punctata was found in Urla (İzmir Bay), constituting its new record in the North Aegean Sea, and indicating its northward distributional expansion. The specimen was juvenile, with a bell diameter of 70 mm. As blooms of this species might cause economic losses and adverse ecosystem changes,...

This Collective article reports 17 introduced species and 22 new locations for these species in the Mediterranean Sea. The reports are from three different Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) subregions (Aegean-Levantine Sea, Adriatic Sea and Western Mediterranean Sea) and the Sea of Marmara and cover ten different countries. The goal of con...

To enrich spatio-temporal information on the distribution of alien, cryptogenic, and neonative species in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, a collective effort by 173 marine scientists was made to provide unpublished records and make them open access to the scientific community. Through this effort, we collected and harmonized a dataset of 12,64...

A single individual of Pelagia noctiluca (Forsskål, 1775) with an approximate bell diameter of 10 cm was observed and photographed from Paşalimanı Island on 12 December 2021, located at the south of Sea of Marmara. The species was hitherto known only from the Aegean and Levantine coasts of Turkey and the present record significantly expands its dis...

This Collective Article presents information on 20 taxa belonging to five (5) Phyla: Cnidaria (2), Mollusca (8), Arthropoda (4), Echinodermata (1) and Chordata (5) recorded from the Alboran Sea to the Levantine Sea. These new records were found in seven (7) different ecoregions as follows: Alboran Sea: new record of the rare football octopus Ocytho...

In this study, the effect of invasive alien species Rapana venosa on the native mussel species Mytilus galloprovincialis and Mytilaster lineatus in the coastal area of İğneada Floodplain Forests National Park was investigated within the scope of the MarIAS Project. In September 2020, a rock with a surface area of approximately 50 m2 and a surface d...

As of 2020, a total of 539 marine alien species belonging to various taxonomic groups have been recorded on the coasts of Türkiye. Among taxonomic groups, the highest number of alien species (123 species) belongs to the Mollusca, followed by Foraminifera (91 species), Pisces (80 species) and Arthropoda (79 species), respectively. A total of 105 mar...

In this study, a dense settlement of Niphates toxifera was observed on rocky substrata at a depth of 10 m in October 2022 on the southern coast of Mersin Taşucu Dana Island (36.183686°N-33.775650°E). The N. toxifera individuals collected are massive and tubular, and brown in color. The osculum on the branched extensions is terminal. This species wa...

Caulerpa cylindracea is an invasive alien marine algae of tropical origin, and today it is distributed all over the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts of Türkiye. Although its existence in our country has been known for almost 30 years, scientific studies on the biology and ecology of the species are negligible. In this study, both the current status...

During a relatively long-term pollution monitoring study between 2015 and 2021 (annually between 2015 and 2019; triennially after 2019), a total of 257 polychaete species belonging to 40 families were identified at 17 soft bottom stations (depth range: 11–89 m) along the Levantine coast of Turkey. Among them, four species belonging to Hesionidae (O...

In this Collective Article on alien and cryptogenic diversity in the Mediterranean Sea we report a total of 19 species belonging to nine Phyla and coming from nine countries. Several of these records concern fish species, and of particular interest are the first records of: Terapon puta for Italian waters; Pteragopus trispilus from Malta; Plotosus...

Dear Colleagues, Shallow- and deep-water marine biotic communities in the world’s oceans are subject to profound changes owing to ongoing climate changes, overfishing, species introductions, pollution, and habitat destruction. Although the magnitude of these factors varies in time and space, recent studies indicate profound irreversible changes in...

The present study reports the first occurrence of an alien glycerid polychaete worm, Glycera cinnamomea (Polychaeta: Glyce-ridae) in the Mediterranean Sea. Only one specimen of this species was collected on April 2021 on the shallow-water sandy mud substratum (9 m depth) in the western part of Mersin Bay, near Taşucu Turkey(in the Eastern Mediterra...

Five years have passed after the first reported mass mortality event of the fan mussel Pinna nobilis, and the populations of this emblematic species have mostly collapsed across the Mediterranean basin. Scattered populations are surviving within the basin, in lagoons or enclosed bays with special environmental conditions. Greek fan mussel populatio...

The present paper deals with the diversity of nephtyid polychaetes (Nephtyidae) from the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. Three species belonging to two genera (Micronephthys and Nephtys) were found in the Black Sea (coast of Turkey) and six species belonging to three genera (Inermonephtys, Micronephthys and Nephtys) were found in the Sea of Marma...

A spring 2021 cruise to the south Marmara Islands revealed a mass mortality event of Pinna nobilis, which had been reported to be healthy just seven months ago. The cause of death might be associated with an epidemic disease or a catastrophic mucilage event seen after November 2020 in the Sea of Marmara. A total of 191 Pinna nobilis individuals wer...

This study presents the first comprehensive assessment of alien species occurrences within the selected 11 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) located on the Aegean and Levantine coasts of Turkey. The inventory includes a total of 289 species belonging to 15 phyla, in which lowest and highest diversities were observed in Saros Bay MPA (27 species, northe...

The fan mussel (or pen shell), Pinna nobilis, is an emblematic large bivalve, endemic to the Mediterranean Sea. Due to various anthropogenic impacts, its populations had substantially decreased the last century, which led to its strict protection by international and national legislative instruments since the 1990s. Since 2016, P. nobilis has been...

The present study reports polychaetes that bore into limestone rocks along the east coast of the Aegean Sea (eastern Mediterranean). Rock materials were collected at two depth intervals (0–5 and 5–10 m) at 15 stations in four localities of Ildırı Bay. A total of 276 specimens belonging to 12 species and four families (Eunicidae, Spionidae, Cirratul...

The 2020's update of marine alien species list from Turkey yielded a total of 539 species belonging to 18 taxonomic groups, 404 of which have become established in the region and 135 species are casual. A total of 185 new alien species have been added to the list since the previous update of 2011. The present compilation includes reports of an asci...

A total of 12 Pinna nobilis beds were found and studied at depths between 2 and 6 m in the south Marmara Islands (Sea of Marmara). Fan mussel individuals in the beds were healthy with a few old dead specimens, indicating that the epidemic, which has devastated P. nobilis populations in the Mediterranean Sea, has not reached the Sea of Marmara, maki...

The present study deals with the diversity of the genus Levinsenia in the Sea of Marmara. The specimens of Levinsenia were collected on soft and hard substrata at depths ranging from 10 to 500 m at 98 stations in 2013. Among the material, two new species, namely Levinsenia longobranchiata n. sp. and L. vulgaris n. sp., and five already known specie...

This paper reports 13 Aricidea species from the Sea of Marmara. The Aricidea specimens were collected at 98 stations in the region in 2012 and 2013 from soft and hard substrata at depths ranging from 0 to 1200 m. Among the material, two new species, namely Aricidea (Acmira) katzmanni n. sp. and Aricidea (Acmira) pseudoassimilis n. sp., and 11 known...

The present study deals with benthic community structures of mussel beds (Mytilus galloprovincialis) in the Sea of Marmara, including the Çanakkale and İstanbul Straits. The Sea of Marmara's mussel beds were mainly formed by small-sized mussel individuals (shell length <4 cm). Macrobenthic species associated with the mussels support high diversity...

• 1. The coralligenous habitat was studied at the large Mediterranean scale, by applying a standardized, non‐destructive photo‐sampling protocol, developed in the framework of the CIGESMED project. • 2. The results provided evidence to support the following statements: (a) the assemblage pattern is not homogeneously distributed across the four Medi...

Within a surveillance programme for the detection of invasive alien species, many benthic samples were randomly collected from several ports located in the inner and middle parts of Izmir Bay. A total of four sponge species (Sycon raphanus, Sycon ciliatum, Paraleucilla magna and Dysidea fragilis) were found on the artificial hard substrata. Paraleu...

The present paper deals with the occurrence of Paraonis fulgens on the coast of Turkey. Three specimens of this species were found at 4 m on sandy mud bottom in İskenderun Bay, northeast Levantine Sea. The morphological and distributional features of the species were given. The present study firstly described a ventral lobe on segments in the famil...

Good datasets of geo-referenced records of alien species are a prerequisite for assessing the spatio-temporal dynamics of biological invasions, their invasive potential, and the magnitude of their impacts. However, with the exception of first records on a country level or wider regions, observations of species presence tend to remain unpublished, b...

Good datasets of geo-referenced records of alien species are a prerequisite for assessing the spatio-temporal dynamics of biological invasions, their invasive potential, and the magnitude of their impacts. However, with the exception of first records on a country level or wider regions, observations of species presence tend to remain unpublished, b...

Good datasets of geo-referenced records of alien species are a prerequisite for assessing the spatio-temporal dynamics of biological invasions, their invasive potential, and the magnitude of their impacts. However, with the exception of first records on a country level or wider regions, observations of species presence tend to remain unpublished, b...

1. The disproportionately low presence of marine species in the list of invasive alien species (IAS) of Union concern of the European Union (EU) Regulation 1143/2014 does not fully acknowledge the threat they pose to the EU marine environment. 2. In this study, the first EU-scale Horizon Scanning (HS) focusing on marine alien species was performed,...

1. The disproportionately low presence of marine species in the list of invasive alien species (IAS) of union concern of the European Union (EU) Regulation 1143/2014 does not fully acknowledge the threat they pose to the EU marine environment. 2. In this study, the first EU-scale horizon scanning focusing on marine alien species was performed, aimi...

Symplegma is a genus of compound ascidians (Fam. Styelidae) with warm water affinities and distribution in tropical and subtropical waters of the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans. The first record of this genus (as S. viride) in the Mediterranean was from 1951 in the Levantine Sea, presumably entering the basin from the Red Sea through the Suez...

This paper deals with the occurrence of Niphates toxifera (Porifera) on the Levantine coast of Turkey. This species was originally described from the coast of Lebanon and was known to be confined to a restricted area (Beirut-Syria-Israel). In February 2019, three specimens of this species were photographed and collected at 10-15 m on rocks (includi...

For almost a century, Parazoanthus axinellae (Schmidt, 1862) has been studied in the Western Mediterranean basin and the Adriatic Sea. Although this is a very common species, one that has been widely recorded in many papers focusing on benthic ecology, its taxonomy has never been properly resolved. From our point of view, several taxa have been err...

The present study deals with the diversity of the genus Paradoneis (Annelida: Paraonidae) from the Sea of Marmara. Examination of materials collected from various soft and hard substrata from depths between 10 and 1200 m in the region revealed the presence of four species, among which one was already known from the region (P. ilvana), one was a new...

The present paper includes four new records of polychaete species to the marine fauna of the Black Sea: Malmgrenia lilianae, Salvatoria cf. dolichopoda, Polydora agassizi and Aricidea (Acmira) simonae. In addition, four species, namely Pisione remota, Pterocirrus macroceros, Polydora cornuta and Saccocirrus papillocercus, are new records for the Bl...

Macrozoobenthic invertebrates in three submarine caves of the Aegean Sea: Preliminary results

The present study describes two new genera, six new species and three new records from the Sea of Marmara. The new genus Marmara gen. nov. belonging to the family Sagartiidae is mainly characterized by having conspicuous muscular belts along the column and the absence of suckers and tenaculi on the body wall. The genus Charisactis gen. nov. belongi...

The present paper deals with the description of specimens of a new species of Pseudobranchiomma Jones, 1962 collected from the Sea of Marmara between 50 and 100 m depths, a genus that, up to now, is represented within the Mediterranean area by only one species. The new species is mainly characterized by having radioles without serrations, well-deve...

The present paper deals with the occurrence of the red coral Corallium rubrum along the coasts of Turkey. Dead colonies of the species were found in the northern Aegean (one location in Gökçeada) and Levantine Seas (three locations) between 45 and 110 m depths, and living colonies were only observed in the northern Aegean Sea (one location in Gökçe...

This paper deals with specimens of Cirrophorus collected from the depths ranging from 3 to 500 m in 2012 and 2013 in the Sea of Marmara, Turkey. Among the material, one new species and two already known species were found. The new species is mainly characterized by having long and clavate notopodial postchaetal lobes in the branchial region; red sp...

The sponge fauna of the Black Sea is poorly studied up to date. The examination of the existing literature on the Black Sea sponges showed that the number of species known from this area is around 80. Most of these species have been recorded by old studies in the early 20th century. Thirteen species seem to be endemic to the Black Sea and five s...

Posidonia oceanica is a sea grass endemic to the Mediterranean Sea. Its complex rhizome network and large leaves provide a variety of microhabitats for benthic species. The studies on the sponge diversity associated with P. oceanica are scarce and limited with some areas in the Mediterranean Sea. The present study aims to elucidate the sponge commu...

In order to determine the morphometric and meristic characteristics of the population of the lessepsian polychaete, Leodice antennata distributed along the coast of the Turkish Levantine Sea, benthic samples were collected from 168 stations (0-200 m) in September-October 2005. The total body length, the width of the 10th chaetiger, the length of th...

Distributional features of Eunicidae (Annelida, Polychaeta) along the Levantine coast of Turkey were assessed based on data derived from qualitative and quantitative samples collected in various substrata, habitat and depths (0–100 m). The examined material contained 12 species and 4644 individuals belonging to five genera (Eunice, Leodice, Lysidic...

The meticulous revision by taxonomic experts of established alien species in the Mediterranean resulted in a major revision of the list proposed by Galil et al. (2016), with 72 species to be excluded (35 species categorised as non-established and 37 as not true aliens), and 71 species added to the list. Consequently, by year 2016 the total number o...

The invasive alien mytilid species, Brachidontes pharaonis, forms a biogenic habitat in the mediolittoral and upperinfralittoral zones of the Levantine Sea, hosting a number of alien and native species. Examinations of samples taken from dense, continuous mussel beds at seven stations along the coast of northern Levantine Sea yielded 187 macro-bent...

The European Red List of Habitats provides an overview of the risk of collapse (degree of endangerment) of marine, terrestrial and freshwater habitats in the European Union (EU28) and adjacent regions (EU28+), based on a consistent set of categories and criteria, and detailed data and expert knowledge from involved countries1. A total of 257 benthi...