Alochthonous Fish Species in South Adriatic

Abstract

At the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008, the Institute of marine biology Kotor received unusual reports from Budva and Bar fishermen regarding certain fish species they have not encountered before. After a thorough examination at the Institute, it was determined that the species in question were the bluespotted cornetfish (Fistularia commersonii Rüppel, 1835) and the blunthead puffer (Sphoeroides pachygaster, Müller & Troschel, 1848), both allochtonous species and — until now — unknown in this part of the Adriatic Sea. Fistularia commersonii is a lessepsian migrant that came to the Mediterranean and the Adriatic Sea from the Red Sea through the Suez Canal. Sphoeroides pachygaster, a tropical species with poisonous internal organs, is classified as an east–Atlantic migrant species, which denotes species that arrived to the Mediterranean and the Adriatic Sea though the Strait of Gibraltar.