Newcomer species from Maltese waters: additions and amendments

Abstract

The inventory of newcomers in Maltese waters is updated with the addition of 7 alien and 1 range-expanding species, while one previous entry in the inventory is omitted. Thus, a total of 72 alien and 8 range-expanding species have been recorded by February 2016. Half of these species have established populations in Maltese waters while a further 10% are considered to be invasive. The main modes of introduction for alien species in Maltese waters are ‘Shipping’ and ‘Secondary dispersal’ from elsewhere in the Mediterranean. More than half of these newcomer species were recorded since the year 2000.