Marine macroalgal flora on the Aegean and the Levantine coasts of Turkey

Abstract

Abstract This study contains an updated checklist and new collections of marine algae from the coasts of the Aegean Sea and the Levantine Sea of Turkey. A total of 573 marine algal taxa at specific and infraspecific levels (137 brown algae, 318 red algae, and 118 green algae) are reported, 32 of which are regarded as endangered or threatened macroalgae (four green algae, nine red algae, and 19 brown algae). Of these, 36 taxa (10 brown algae, 17 red algae, nine green algae) are recorded as alien on the Aegean and Levantine coasts. In the present study, the red alga Palisada maris-rubri is reported for the first time from the eastern Mediterranean Sea for Turkey. In Iskenderun Bay, species were sampled from 1 m depth on a volcanic rock in May 2016.