Two New Fish Records from the Mediterranean Sea, of the Libyan coast: The undulate ray Raja undulata (Lac´ep`ede,1802) and the Atlantic wreckfish, Polyprion americanus (Bloch and Schneider,1801)

Abstract

The discovery of new alien species in Libyan waters, whether introduced by Lessepsian migration from the Red Sea or the Atlantic Ocean, has recently received much attention. This shows that marine life is still thriving in Libyan waters. Raja undulata (SL: 47cm, TL: 51 cm), weighing 18 kg, was caught from Derna coast by a bottom trawl haul on 20th July 2022, at a depth of 100 m. On the other hand, a single Polyprion americanus specimen (SL: 79 cm, TL: 97 cm) weighing 16.447 kg was caught by longline on the coast of Tripoli on 19th June 2022, at a depth of 500 m. The present study aims to document the first record of Raja undulate and the second record of Atlantic wreckfish, Polyprion americanus, from Libyan waters. This observation is detailed in this note.