First record of the Indian Ocean anchovy Stolephorus insularis Hardenberg, 1933 from the northeastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey

The transfer of species into the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal is called Lessepsian migration (Por, 1978). Ninety substantiated Lessepsian fish records have been reported, 32 of these fishes in the Mediterranean Sea within the past decade (Golani, 2010; Bariche and Heemstra, 2012; Fricke et al., 2012; Azzurro et al., 2013; Stern and Goren, 2013). Of these, 55 are reported in Turkish waters, including the recent findings of Champsodon vorax (G€ oko glu and € Ozvarol, 2013) and the blue-barred parrotfish, Scarus ghobban (Turan et al., 2014). Stolephorus insularis is widespread throughout the northern Indian Ocean, and from the northwestern Pacific Ocean to New Caledonia in the southwestern Indian Ocean (Gulf of Thailand, Java Sea, Hong Kong, Fujian and Taiwan Island, possibly Fiji and Samoa) (Whitehead et al., 1988; Fricke et al., 2012; Froese and Pauly, 2013). According to Hoedt (1994), this species is found predominantly in shallow waters and estuaries at depths of 30–40 m. Engraulis encrasicolus is thus far the only Engraulid species recorded in the Mediterranean Sea (Quignard and Tomasini, 2000; Nelson, 2006). However, Stolephorus insularis (subfamiliy Coiliinae) was recorded on 7 August 2009 for the first time on the Tel Aviv coast of Israel, and reported by Fricke et al. (2012) who emphasized that S. insularis is an IndoPacific species; it seems logical to assume that its range extension into the Mediterranean Sea occurred via the Suez Canal. Thus, the record of S. insularis from the northeastern Mediterranean coasts of Turkey reported here is proof of its northerly range extension.