The white-spotted puffer fish is a medium to large-sized puffer fish, it can reach 50 cm length. It is light grey in color, or greyish or yellowish, and clearly covered with more or less regular white points, that become concentric contrasting white and dark grey lines that radiate around the eyes and pectoral fins. The ventral part is white. The "shoulder" is dark. It also has concentric contrasting white and dark grey lines that radiate around the eyes and pectoral fins. The white spotted puffer fish is poisonous.
Psenes pellucidus, the bluefin driftfish, is a species of driftfish native to the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans where it is found in deep waters to a depth of 1000 m. ). It is also present in low abundance since the mid-20th century in the western Mediterranean Sea which it most likely entered via the Strait of Gibraltar. It can reach a length of 80 cm TL.
The blunthead puffer is a pufferfish of the family Tetraodontidae, found circumglobally in tropical and temperate seas, at depths between 50 and 500 m. First recorded in the Mediterranean Sea off the Spanish coast in 1981, after entry via the strait of Gibraltar, it invaded the western basin in following decades and now reaches eastward the Adriatic Sea, the Aegean Sea and Levantine waters. Its length is up to 40 cm. It is an edible species, and is commonly eaten in Japan, where it is referred to as 'yorito fugu', and has a lower concentration of tetrodotoxin compared to other species of pufferfish prepared and eaten as fugu, but caution is needed as its liver contains dangerous levels of the toxin, and must not be eaten.
The fangtooth moray sometimes also known as tiger moray or bird-eye conger is a moray eel of the family Muraenidae found in warmer parts of the eastern Atlantic Ocean, including the Canary Islands, Madeira and various other islands. It entered the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic and is now found occasionally in the eastern Basin, from Levantine waters and off Turkey, Greece, Croatia and Sicily.
Chrysiptera cyanea is a species of damselfish found in the wide Indo-West Pacific but not known in the Red Sea. A few individuals were observed in the Mediterranean Sea in 2013 off Slovenia, a likely aquarium release.
The Guinean puffer is a species of the family Tetraodontidae, or pufferfishes. Found in the eastern Atlantic from Portugal to Angola, including Madeira, the Azores, Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, it has been recently recorded on rare, distinct occasions in the Alboran Sea, western Mediterranean Sea.
The blotchfin dragonet is a species of dragonet native to the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean. It also now occurs in the Mediterranean Sea, where it was first recorded in 1953 off Israel. It has since been observed in Cyprus, Lebanon, Turkey and Rhodes (Greece). This species occurs at depths from 16 to 350 m and can grows to a length of 20 cm.
The tasseled blenny is a species of combtooth blenny native to the Indo-West Pacific. A single specimen was reported in 2013 in the Mediterranean Sea off Antalya, Turkey. This species reaches a length of 6.2 centimetres (2.4 in) TL.
Petroscirtes ancylodon, the Arabian fangblenny, is a species of combtooth blenny found in the western Indian Ocean, and since 1989 recorded on occasion in the Levantine waters of the Mediterranean Sea, a likely entry from the Suez Canal. Males of this species reach a length of 11.5 cm TL while females reach a maximum length of 7.9 cm SL.
Holocentrus adscensionis is a squirrelfish of the family Holocentridae found in the Atlantic Ocean. Its range extends from North Carolina, USA to Brazil and throughout the Caribbean Sea in the Western Atlantic and from Gabon to Ascension Island in the Eastern Atlantic. A sighting was reported in 2016 from the central Mediterranean Sea off Malta and in 2023 from the Mediterranean Sea near Northern Cyprus.
Rhynchoconger trewavasae is an eel in the family Congridae. It was described by Adam Ben-Tuvia in 1993. It is a marine, deep water-dwelling eel which is known from the western Indian Ocean, including the Gulf of Aqaba and possibly the Gulf of Suez. A single specimen was recorded in the Mediterranean Sea from Israel in 1993. It dwells at a depth range of 300 to 500 metres, and swims in a zigzag motion near the bottom. Males can reach a maximum total length of 57 centimetres (22 in), but more commonly reach a TL of 45 centimetres (18 in).
Pisodonophis semicinctus is an eel in the family Ophichthidae. First described by John Richardson in 1848., it is a marine, subtropical eel which is known in the eastern Atlantic Ocean from Gibraltar to Angola. It was first recorded in the Mediterranean Sea in 1958 off Algeria and is now found on both shores of the western Basin. It dwells at a depth range of 10 to 30 m and inhabits the continental shelf, where it forms burrows in sand and mud. Males can reach a maximum total length of 80 cm, but more commonly reach a TL of 60 cm.
Cryptocentrus caeruleopunctatus, commonly known as the harlequin prawn-goby, is a species of goby. It recently entered the Mediterranean Sea with large populations observed along the Israel coast. Before its recording in the Mediterranean this species was restricted to the Red Sea where it occurs on open sand bottoms of clear water reefs living in association with alpheid shrimps.
Torquigener flavimaculosus is a pufferfish of the family Tetraodontidae, capable of very rapid body inflation when threatened. Native to the Western Indian Ocean, it is also found in the Indo Pacific from the Persian Gulf to the Seychelles. Recorded first in the Mediterranean Sea in 1987, following a likely migration through the Suez Canal, it is now expanding westward.
Vanderhorstia mertensi, Mertens' shrimp goby or the slender shrimp goby, is a ray-finned fish species native to the Red Sea, Japan, Papua-New Guinea and the Great Barrier Reef. Male individuals can reach a length of 11 cm in total. In 2008 a first specimen was collected in the Mediterranean Sea, in the Gulf of Fethiye, southern Turkey, where it was found on sandy bottoms in the vicinity of beds of sea grass. It is now common in Israel, Turkey and Greece. According to the Mediterranean Science Commission this species most likely entered the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal from the Red Sea.
The specific name honours the German herpetologist Robert Mertens (1894-1975), the former director of the Naturmuseum Senckenberg in Frankfurt, from whom the author, Klausewitz, learnt about the biological and ecological view of modern systematics and taxonomy.
The Guinean sea catfish, also known as the marine catfish, is a species of sea catfish in the family Ariidae. It was described by Albert Günther in 1864, originally under the genus Arius. It is a tropical fish which is found in the eastern Atlantic off Mauritania, Angola, Morocco and Western Sahara. A single record was reported in the eastern Mediterranean Sea in 1986. It inhabits coastal marine waters at a depth range of 50 to 80 m, also frequently entering estuaries and freshwater rivers. It reaches a maximum total length of 70 cm (28 in), more commonly reaching a TL of 40 cm (16 in).
The diamondback puffer is a species of pufferfish in the genus Lagocephalus.
Cephalopholis hemistiktos, the yellowfin hind, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a member of the family Serranidae, which also includes the anthias and sea basses. This species is found from the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf and the coast of Pakistan. A single specimen was filmed in 2009 in the Mediterranean Sea, off Malta.
Lagocephalus suezensis is a species of pufferfish of the family Tetraodontidae. It is native to the western Indian Ocean and recorded in the Mediterranean Sea since 1977. It has since spread in the eastern Mediterranean Basin. It reaches 18 cm in total length and inhabits sandy and muddy bottoms down to 40 m. It is often confused with Lagocephalus sceleratus in Australia.
