Heterogeneous data collection in the marine environment has led to large gaps in our knowledge of marine species distributions. To fill these gaps, models calibrated on existing data may be used to predict species distributions in unsampled areas, given that available data are sufficiently representative. Our objective was to evaluate the feasibility of mapping cetacean densities across the entire Mediterranean Sea using models calibrated on available survey data and various environmental covariates. We aggregated 302,481...

The invasion of lionfish (Pterois volitans and P. miles) in the Western Atlantic is perhaps the best studied marine fish invasion to date; meanwhile another lionfish invasion is rapidly evolving in the Mediterranean. We reviewed lionfish management policies from several decades in the Western Atlantic to suggest policy recommendations for the Mediterranean. These strategic recommendations are synthesized in our corresponding manuscript titled: “Lessons from the Western Atlantic lionfish invasion can inform policy and management strategies...

The software program STRUCTURE is one of the most cited tools for determining population structure. To infer the optimal number of clusters from STRUCTURE output, the ΔK method is often applied. However, a recent study relying on simulated microsatellite data suggested that this method has a downward bias in its estimation of K and is sensitive to uneven sampling. If this finding holds for empirical datasets, conclusions about the scale of gene flow may have...

Introduced species have the potential to outperform natives via the introduction of new parasites to which the native ecosystem is vulnerable. Cryptic diversity within an invasive species can obscure invasion patterns and confound proper management measures. The aim of this study is to use coalescent theory based methodology to trace recent routes of invasion in populations of Ligula intestinalis, a globally distributed fish parasite possessing both native and recently introduced populations in North Africa. Molecular...

Shell decollation is a growth strategy that has been adopted by a number of invertebrate taxa to offset the metabolic and ecological disadvantages of shell growth. However, little is known about the origin and evolution of this process. We here describe well-preserved specimens of the hyolith, Cupitheca decollata sp. nov., preserving the decollation process from the early Cambrian Yu’anshan Formation (ca. 518 million years ago) of South China. Based on a large number of specimens...