Encarnação, J.; Morais, P.; Baptista, V.; Cruz, J.; Teodósio, M.A. New Evidence of Marine Fauna Tropicalization off the Southwestern Iberian Peninsula (Southwest Europe). Diversity2019, 11, 48.
Encarnação, J.; Morais, P.; Baptista, V.; Cruz, J.; Teodósio, M.A. New Evidence of Marine Fauna Tropicalization off the Southwestern Iberian Peninsula (Southwest Europe). Diversity 2019, 11, 48.
Cite as:
Encarnação, J.; Morais, P.; Baptista, V.; Cruz, J.; Teodósio, M.A. New Evidence of Marine Fauna Tropicalization off the Southwestern Iberian Peninsula (Southwest Europe). Diversity2019, 11, 48.
Encarnação, J.; Morais, P.; Baptista, V.; Cruz, J.; Teodósio, M.A. New Evidence of Marine Fauna Tropicalization off the Southwestern Iberian Peninsula (Southwest Europe). Diversity 2019, 11, 48.
Abstract
Climate change and the overall increase of seawater temperature is causing a poleward shift in species distribution, which includes a phenomenon described as tropicalization of temperate regions. This work aims at reporting the first records of four species off the southwestern Iberian Peninsula, namely oceanic puffer Lagocephalus lagocephalus Linnaeus, 1758, Madeira rockfish Scorpaenamaderensis Valenciennes, 1833, ornate wrasse Thalassoma pavo Linnaeus, 1758, and bearded fireworm Hermodice carunculata Pallas, 1766. These last three species, along with other occurrences of aquatic fauna and flora along the Portuguese coast, reveal an ongoing process of poleward expansion of several species for which a comprehensive survey along the entire Iberian Peninsula is urgent. The putative origins of these subtropical and tropical species off continental Portugal are discussed, as well as the urgent need of public awareness due to potential health risks resulting from the toxicity of two of the four species reported in this paper.
Keywords
climate change; tropicalization; species distribution; range expansion; North Atlantic
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
