Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria 48(1): 87-91, doi: 10.3750/AIEP/02294
First record of the azure demoiselle, Chrysiptera hemicyanea (Actinopterygii: Perciformes: Pomacentridae), in the Mediterranean Sea
A. Deidun, D. De Castro, M. BaricheCorresponding author: A. Deidun © A. Deidun, D. De Castro, M. Bariche. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Citation:
Deidun A, De Castro D, Bariche M (2018) First record of the azure demoiselle, Chrysiptera hemicyanea (Actinopterygii: Perciformes: Pomacentridae), in the Mediterranean Sea. Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria 48(1): 87-91. https://doi.org/10.3750/AIEP/02294 |  |
Abstract
The azure demoiselle, Chrysiptera hemicyanea (Weber, 1913), is a marine fish native to the Indo-West Pacific and is commonly found in the aquarium industry around the world. A single individual was observed underwater at a depth of two meters in the coastal waters of Malta in June 2017. Chrysiptera hemicyanea is recorded from the Mediterranean Sea for the first time based on underwater photos and a video. The record suggests a very recent presence of the species in the Mediterranean, most probably a release from a tropical aquarium. The species cannot be considered yet established and monitoring of possible new individuals and awareness activities with the local community should be initiated.
Keywords
aquarium fish, alien, Chrysiptera hemicyanea, Malta, Mediterranean Sea