The rabbitfish Siganus luridus (Rà¼ppell, 1829) is a species usually
found in the western Indian Ocean and Red Sea. Since the
opening of the Suez canal, between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean
in 1869, 309 species, called “Lessepsian†species, entered into
Mediterranean waters, including ~75 fish species (Galil, 2009).
Among them, two herbivorous fish species belonging to the Siganidae
family, Siganus luridus and S. rivulatus Forsskà¥l, 1775 have
become very common in most parts of the eastern Mediterranean
and strongly interact with native herbivorous fish species through
competition for food resources and habitat (Bariche et al., 2004)…
The 9th of July 2008, a professional fisherman (S. Piro) caught
a specimen of Siganus luridus in his gillnets (~200 m long, with a
mesh size of 13 mm usually used for captures of Mullus spp.) near
Sausset-les-pins (43°19,647 N – 005°07,698 E), at a depth of about
5-10 m in a site mostly characterized by rocky bottoms mixed with
Posidonia oceanica beds (Fig. 1). The fish measured 20.5 cm (TL)
(Fig. 2) and since his capture is maintained alive in the aquaria of
the Parc Marin de la Côte Bleue (its reference number is MNHN
2009-0148)…
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