The long reach of the suez canal: Lagocephalus sceleratus (gmelin, 1789) an unwanted indo-pacific pest at the atlantic gate

Abstract

The silver-cheeked toadfish Lagocephalus sceleratus (Gmelin, 1789) is rapidly expanding westward through the Mediterranean Sea. On December 2017, a single individual was caught by a local fisherman at the westernmost end of the basin, the Straits of Gibraltar at San Amaro beach, Bahia norte, Ceuta, Spain (35.8974; −5.2994). This new record opens to the possibility of this Indo-Pacific pest to spread beyond the Mediterranean region, prospecting the future extension of Lessepsian bioinvasions to the Atlantic Ocean. © Azzurro et al.