Cemal Turan

Abstract

In this study 6 species (Epinephelus aeneus, Epinephelus caninus, Epinephelus costae, Epinephelus marginatus, Hyporthodus haifensis, Mycteroperca rubra) of Serranidae family were classified by using a color based feature extraction method. A database which consists of 112 fish images was used in this study. In each image, a fish was located on a white background floor with the same position and the images were taken from different distances. A combination of manual processes and automatic algorithms were applied on images until obtaining colored fish sample images with a black background. Since the presented color based feature extraction method avoids including background, these images were processed by using an automatic algorithm in order to obtain a solid texture image from the fish and extract features. The obtained solid texture image was in HSV color space and used due to extract meaningful information about fish sample. Each of the hue, saturation and value components of the HSV color space was used separately in order to extract 7 statistical features. Hence, totally 21 features were extracted for each fish sample. The extracted features were used within Nearest Neighbor algorithm and 112 fish samples from 6 species were classified with an overall accuracy achievement of 86%.

Full Text Link: http://nesciences.com/abstract_info.php?page=info&paperID=139

Abstract

Elongate bulleye, Priacanthus prolixus was first time recorded from the Mediterranean Sea. One specimen of P. prolixus was caught by a commercial trawler at a depth of 70 m in 7 November 2016 from İskenderun Bay, Norteastern Mediterranean Sea, Turkey. The occurrence of this species in the Mediterranean Sea is most probably due to migration from the Red Sea via the Suez Canal.

Full Text Link: http://nesciences.com/abstract_info.php?page=info&paperID=148

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Marine ecosystems nestle species or populations known to be threatened due to human overexploitation. Reliable detection and monitoring of threatened organisms is crucial for data-driven conservation actions. Furthermore, misidentification of species represents a major problem. Here, we investigate the potential of using metabarcoding of environmental DNA (eDNA) obtained directly from seawater samples to detect endangered grouper species (Epinephelus spp.). Cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) fragment of mtDNA was used to detect groupers species in the Mediterranean Coasts. We conducted eDNA sampling at sites by underwater diving across the range of the Grouper species habitats in Northeastern Mediterranean (Antalya-Kas Region and Iskenderun Bay). eDNA was isolated from 2 liter seawater samples which were vacuum-filtered onto 0.45-mm membrane filters. Filters were then folded inwards, placed in 2 ml tubes and stored at -20 oC until DNA extraction, which took place within 24 hours. DNA was extracted from the water sample filters using the DNeasy Blood and Tissue Kit (Qiagen, USA). Manufacturer’s protocols were used during all steps. PCR amplification of eDNA samples were done using selective primers of COI region of mitochondrial DNA, and next-generation DNA sequencing of PCR application was conducted. For the successfully obtained COI sequences, maximum matching rates were revealed as 80% for Epinephelus marginatus, 78,95% for Epinephelus aeneus, 73,48% for Epinephelus costae, 63,45% for Epinephelus caninus, 60,12% for Mycteroperca rubra and 57,12% for Hyporthodus haifensis. Despite the methodological challenges inherent in eDNA analysis, the results demonstrated that eDNA method may be proved to step towards a new beginning to detect and monitor endangered grouper species.

Link: http://nesciences.com/abstract_info.php?page=info&paperID=63

Several microsatellite loci were tried for Scophthalmus maeoticus by using microsatellite primers which have been developed and reported to date for turbot Scophthalmus maximus (Linnaeus, 1758) to understand if they are appropriate usage for S. maeoticus. We noticed the development and characterization of polymorphic microsatellite markers for S. maeoticus. Only five of these microsatellite loci were successfully amplified with new developed PCR conditions and used for routine analysis of stock identification of S. maeoticus.

A single male specimen of red lionfish Pterois volitans was recorded for the first time in 13 May 2016 from the Iskenderun Bay, North-eastern Mediterranean, Turkey. The present paper also reports the first record of the red lionfish, P. volitans from the Mediterranean Sea.

Three specimens of striped eel catfish, Plotosus lineatus (Thunberg, 1787) were caught by a spear gun at depths of 20 m on 4 April 2016 from Iskenderun Bay (Çevlik harbour), North-eastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey. With the present study, P. lineatus is the first time reported from Turkish marine waters, in the Iskenderun Bay, the Northeastern Mediterranean and also this is the first Plotosid species recorded from Turkish Seas.

Full text link: http://nesciences.com/abstract_info.php?page=info&paperID=51

Sea temperature change in the Mediterranean, Marmara and Black Sea coasts of Turkey and its possible biodiversity effects are investigated. The surface sea water temperatures of the Mediterranean, Marmara and Black Sea region of Turkey for last 41 years showed increased trends in Mediterranean Sea (Iskenderun, Mersin and Antalya), Marmara Sea (Istanbul) and Black Sea (Samsun). On the other hand, the number of Indo-Pacific species is getting rapidly increased for the last decade that caused increased invasion of the Indo-Pacific species and significant shift of biodiversity in Turkish Seas. This settlement process is probably accelerated or facilitated by global climate change and overfishing of native species. Nowadays, the occurrence of Atlantic-Mediterranean (Lithognathus mormyrus, Serranus hepatus and Callinectes sapidus) and Indo-Pacific (Stephanolepis diaspros, Lagocephalus spadiceus) originated species in the Marmara and Black Seas can also be an important indicator of the process of Mediterranization of the Marmara and Black Seas.

Full text link: http://nesciences.com/abstract_info.php?page=info&paperID=47

Full text link: http://nesciences.com/abstract_info.php?page=info&paperID=29

Scopthalmus rhombus is rarely occurred and restricted to marine and estuarine sites in the eastern Marmara Sea and western Black Sea coast of Turkey. S. rhombus is occasionally caught in low numbers and continuously decreased in abundance due to overfishing and habitat degradations. This species should be considered to be threatened for Turkish marine waters. This species might also be recorded in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as Near Threatened (NT).

Full text link: http://nesciences.com/abstract_info.php?page=info&paperID=30

On 15 March 2015, a single specimen of Parupeneus forsskali (Fourmanoir & Guézé, 1976) was captured by a trammel net at a depth of 30 m from Iskenderun Bay. The occurrence of the Red Sea goatfish P. forsskali was reported for the first time in the Iskenderun Bay and the first captured data for the Turkish marine waters.

This study investigate the region between the coast of Samandağ-Deniz district and coast of Yayladağı-Keldağ in Northeastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey in order to be Marine Protected Area due to having endangered the Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus), sea turtles (Chelonia mydas and Caretta caretta), and also high fish species
diversity and underwater historical ruins .

Otolith chemistry of turbot Scophthalmus maximus (Linnaeus 1758) was used to discriminate populations throughout the Marmara and Black Seas. Otolith chemistry analyses showed high differentiation of turbot stocks, revealing a clear discreteness of the Black Sea (Duzce and Trabzon) and Marmarasamples, indicating limited gene flow between the regions. Univariate analysis of variance showed significant differences between means of all the samples for all otolith elements (Ba, Mg, Mn, Sr, Na, K and Ca) (P<0.001). The contribution of each element in distinguishing between the populations for the first discriminant functions revealed high contribution from the elements Sr, Mg, Mn and Na in the discriminant analysis. Overall assignment of individuals into their original sample was % 100. There was highly positive
correlation in the otolith elements concentration between Ca and Ba, Mg and Ba; and negative correlations between Na and Sr, Mn and Sr.