Occurrence of the Red Sea Goatfish Parupeneus forsskali (Fourmanoir & Guézé, 1976) from the Western Mediterranean Coast of Turkey

Three specimens of the Red Sea goatfish Parupeneus forsskali were recorded from two locations at a depth of 12-18 m. One was observed during the SCUBA diving in Fethiye Bay on 15 June 2016 and the other two were collected via trawling during a bentic survey in Ayd？nc？k coast on 24 December 2016. P. forsskali was first recorded in the Mediterranean coast of Turkey twelve years ago. This lessepsian species appears to be continually spreading and easily establishing new populations in the Mediterranean Sea coast of Turkey. Our study indicated the westward expansion of P. forsskali along to Mediterranean coasts. The present study also investigated the way of introduction and possible depths of its spread in the Mediterranean Sea