Additional Records of Tripletail Lobotes surinamensis (Bloch, 1790), from the Eastern Mediterranean

• DOI: 10.1007/s41208-020-00244-6
• Publication Date: 2020-08-17T07:02:30Z
• Authors: Vasileios Minasidis; Nikolaos Doumpas; Periklis Kleitou; Roxani Naasan Aga...; Paschalis Papadam...; Ioannis Giovos
• Keywords: Citizen Science; Alien species; Historical record

In the Mediterranean Sea, Lobotes surinamensis (Bloch, 1790) is considered as a rare species, albeit an increasing number of individual-based sightings published in the literature. In this study, we present 32 additional records of this thermophilic species from the Greek and Cypriot waters; reinforcing the evidence that the species is becoming more common to the region. All of the records were collected as part of the citizen science project “Is it Alien to you? Share it!!!” by a participatory process involving fishers and taxonomic experts. This work highlights the important role of citizen science as a tool for public engagement and for monitoring species distribution in a changing environment, like the Mediterranean basin.