The occurrence of a tropical Atlantic hermit crab, Pagurus mbizi, has recently been reported on the northern shores of the Alboran Sea (Mediterranean coast of Andalusia (Spain). The presence of this species in the Mediterranean was first recorded in 2006, when the first individual, still not identified to species level, was collected near Estepona (Málaga) during a fisheries research cruise along the Iberian Peninsula Mediterranean coasts whithin the frame of the European Union Medits surveys.
The occurrence of a tropical Atlantic hermit crab, Pagurus mbizi, has recently been reported on the northern shores of the Alboran Sea (Mediterranean coast of Andalusia (Spain). The presence of this species in the Mediterranean was first recorded in 2006, when the first individual, still not identified to species level, was collected near Estepona (Málaga) during a fisheries research cruise along the Iberian Peninsula Mediterranean coasts whithin the frame of the European Union Medits surveys. Well-established populations, with evidence of ovigerous females, have been located thereafter along the Mediterranean Andalusian coasts, from Estepona to Almería. There is not yet any report of its spreading further north in the Mediterranean or of its occurrence along North African coasts. Different specimens have been deposited in the Biological Collections of Reference of the Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC) in Barcelona, as well as on the Collections of the Centro Oceanográfico de Málaga (IEO).
The report has been published in the scientific journal "Mediterranean Marine Science", co-authored by researchers from University of Málaga, Instituto Español de Oceanografía and Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC), is freely available for download from its web page. This finding further shows the relevance of the Alboran Sea as a natural passage gate for Atlantic marine species into the Mediterranean.
Article:
The tropical African hermit crab Pagurus mbizi (Crustacea, Decapoda, Paguridae) in the Western Mediterranean Sea: a new alien species or filling gaps in the knowledge of the distribution?
J.E. García Raso, F. Salmerón, J. Baro, P. Marina and P. Abelló
Mediterranean Marine Science, 15/1, 2014, 172-178
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12681/mms.530