THE MARINE ICHTHYOFAUNA OF THE EASTERN LEVANT—HISTORY, INVENTORY, AND CHARACTERIZATION

ABSTRACT A general study of the marine ichthyofauna of the eastern Levant is presented. A historical survey of the ichthyofaunistic literature on the area reveals a constant rate of increase in the number of new recorded species, resulting from increased collection effort and the continuous influx of species of Red Sea origin. An annotated list of 30 newly-recorded species and two first substantiated records is given. A checklist of eastern Levantine marine ichthyofauna including 405 species within 125 families is presented. A database of eastern Levantine marine ichthyofauna was compiled with respect to local conditions of abundance, habitat type, depth, feeding habits, size, and geographic distribution. The database allows characterization of species composition within each of the above categories, in addition to a further breakdown of each category with respect to the other categories.