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A foreign settler: the anthropogenic displacement of sea cucumbers through fisheries discards

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2024

Nuno Castro Open the ORCID record for Nuno Castro [Opens in a new window] ,
Filipe Romão  and
Pedro M. Félix
Nuno Castro*
Affiliation:
MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre/ARNET – Aquatic Research Network, Agência Regional para o Desenvolvimento da Investigação Tecnologia e Inovação (ARDITI) Funchal, Madeira, Portugal MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre/ARNET – Aquatic Research Network, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
Filipe Romão
Affiliation:
CERIS – Civil Engineering for Research and Innovation for Sustainability, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
Pedro M. Félix
Affiliation:
MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre/ARNET – Aquatic Research Network, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
*
Corresponding author: Nuno Castro; Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

This study describes the presence of the royal cucumber Parastichopus regalis (Cuvier, 1817) in The Natural Park of Ria Formosa (NPRF), Portugal. A single individual was observed during a monitoring scuba dive at a depth of 3 m inside this shallow mesotidal lagoon. The most plausible explanation for this occurrence is attributed to the rejection by trawlers when returning to their home port from their fishing grounds. This marine species has a deeper distribution outside the lagoon and is commonly captured as by-catch and subsequently discarded. This study also alerts us to the growing presence of non-indigenous species and the emergent threat of new invasions, highlighting the need to adopt biosecurity measures, like good practices for fishers when dealing with discards to avoid new species introductions in this fragile coastal marine habitat.

Keywords

biosecuritynon-indigenous speciesParastichopus regalisRia Formosavectors
Type
Marine Record
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 104 , 2024 , e67
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom

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