This Collective Article presents information on 20 taxa belonging to five (5) Phyla: Cnidaria (2), Mollusca (8), Arthropoda (4), Echinodermata (1) and Chordata (5) recorded from the Alboran Sea to the Levantine Sea. These new records were found in seven (7) different ecoregions as follows: Alboran Sea: new record of the rare football octopus Ocythoe tuberculata in the harbour of Algeciras (Spain); Western Mediterranean Sea: first record of the isopod Arcturinella deltensis in the Ligurian Sea, and the third in the whole Mediterranean Sea; third Mediterranean site for the Muricidae Coralliophila ahuiri along the Italian coasts (Alghero); first and westernmost record of the goby Corcyrogobius liechtensteini from the Iberian Peninsula; new record of the sea slug Glaucus atlanticus from the coast of the Iberian Peninsula; first and easternmost record of Holothuria (Vaneyothuria) lentiginosa lentiginosa along the Italian coasts; Tunisian Plateau/Gulf of Sidra: seventh record of the oceanic squid Thysanoteuthis rhombus in Tunisia, and first for the Gulf of Gabes. Ionian Sea: second occurrence of the Atlantic tripletail Lobotes surinamensis in the Ionian Sea and first record from the Strait of Messina area; new record of the rare sea elephant Pterotrachea coronata from the Strait of Messina; Adriatic Sea: first record of a facies of football ascidian Diazona violacea in the South Adriatic Sea (Tremiti Island, Italy); two records of the sevengill shark Heptranchias perlo in Croatian waters after more than 70 years of absence of documented records in this area; first known occurrence of the nudibranch Jalonus hyalinus in Slovenian waters and also the first known occurrence of this species in the Adriatic Sea; first record of the nudibranch Okenia elegans in Slovenian waters; Aegean Sea: First record of the parasitic isopod Nerocila milesensis along Greek coasts (Crete island) as well as the second record worldwide; additional record of the brachyuran Paragalene longicrura collected from the Saronikos Gulf (Greece); first record of the siphonophore Rhizophysa filiformis in Greek waters as well as the second record of this species in the eastern Mediterranean basin; new record of the rare and protected angelshark Squatina aculeata along Turkish coasts; Levantine Sea: first record of the marine amphipod Caprella andreae in the Levantine Mediterranean shore of Israel, based on both morphological and molecular data; first occurrence of the cephalopod Tremoctopus violaceus along Turkish coasts, which confirms its presence in the north-eastern coasts of Turkey; record of a bloom of the thermophilic jellyfish Pelagia noctiluca in the north Levantine Sea.

The flathead grey mullet, Mugil cephalus (Linnaeus 1758), and the golden grey mullet, Chelon auratus (Risso 1810), are two species of fish belonging to the family Mugilidae with commercial importance in tropical and warm temperate estuaries (Blaber, 1997) and an important ecological function in food chains (Cardona, 2001). Unfortunately, nowadays, the status of mugils is very fragile due to continuous pollution from agricultural and industrial activities and also high fishing pressure. In fact, M. cephalus is a species that is becoming rare and endangered (Glamuzina and Bartulović, 2010). Several authors have previously published important studies on

The cownose ray, Rhinoptera bonasus, is currently listed as vulnerable and threatened species by the IUCN Red List due to overfishing and bycatch in worldwide resulted declines of the steep population declines of 30-49% in only 43 years. We aimed to present suitable dissection methods for a necropsy of cownose ray with a large, rhomboid-shaped wing-like pectoral disc and compressed dorsoventrally using a specific approach to observe external and internal anatomy. The fish were obtained from a public aquarium after natural death and were dissected with four incision area to open chondrocranium, gills, pericardial cavity and pleuroperitoneal cavity. The dorsal surface of the body is completely naked and smooth, greenish-brown colored, in contrast the ventral surface of the body is white. The liver fills most of the pleuroperitoneal cavity and covers the esophagus, stomach, duodenum, valvular intestine, spleen, kidney and uterus. The valvular intestine or spiral valve is one of the largest organs of the digestive system. In most rays, only the left ovary is developed and functional; therefore, the ovaries of the specimens are located on the left to the median line, close to the cranial end of the pleuroperitoneal cavity, and caudal to the stomach. In conclusion, the presented dissection techniques will enable to examine of the external and internal anatomy of cownose rays and will contribute to a suitable approach to organs.

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