Forecasting the ongoing invasion of Lagocephalus sceleratus in the Mediterranean Sea

Gianpaolo Coro, Luis Gonzalez Vilas, Chiara Magliozzi, Anton Ellenbroek, Paolo Scarponi and Pasquale Pagano

Ecological Modelling, 2018, vol. 371, issue C, 37-49

Abstract: Invasive species from the Suez Canal, also named “Lessepsian species”, often have an ecological and financial impact on marine life, fisheries, human well-being and health in the Mediterranean Sea. Among these, the silver-cheeked toad-fish Lagocephalus sceleratus (Gmelin, 1789) has rapidly colonised the eastern Mediterranean basin and is currently moving westwards. This pufferfish has a highly opportunistic behaviour, it attacks fish captured in nets and lines and seriously damages fishing gears and catch. It is a highly-toxic species with no immediate economic value for the Mediterranean market, although it currently represents 4% of the weight of the total artisanal catches. Consequently, the possible effects on Mediterranean fisheries and health require to enhance our understanding about the future geographical distribution of this pufferfish in the whole basin.

Keywords: Ecological niche modelling; AquaMaps; Artificial Neural Networks; Invasive species; Maximum Entropy; Support Vector Machines; Lagocephalus sceleratus; Species distribution models (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:371:y:2018:i:c:p:37-49

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2018.01.007

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