Non-Indigenous Marine Fish in Syria: Past, Present and Impact on Ecosystem, and Human Health

Abstract

Biological invasions have posed a major threat to global and regional biodiversity. The Mediterranean, one of the world’s main biodiversity hotspots, has long suffered from multiple and recurrent invasions. Due to the geographical location of Syria on the eastern Mediterranean coast, this chapter includes a historical and recent study over the past hundred years of the biodiversity reality of fish fauna in Syrian marine waters (as a representative part of the Levantine Basin). It also includes the evolution non-native fish species number that migrated to this area, both from the Red Sea (through the Suez Canal) and from its original habitats in both Indian and Pacific Ocean, or from the Atlantic Ocean through the Strait of Gibraltar. Then, its spread extended to Syrian territorial waters due to the impact of climate change, which led to environmental changes in the characteristics of the marine waters. An explanation will also be given of the impact of non-indigenous species on native species such as competition for food, ecological niches, and predation, as well as the positive and negative effects on the economy and human health. The consumption of some invasive species, like buffer fish rich in tetrodotoxin, may lead to severe intoxication, sometimes to death.