Arnoglossus kessleri

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	ACTINOPTERYGII	PLEURONECTIFORMES	BOTHIDAE

Scientific Name:

Arnoglossus kessleri

Species Authority:

Schmidt, 1915

Common Name/s:

English	–	Scaldback
French	–	Fausse Limande de Kessler
Spanish	–	Peluda

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:	Data Deficient ver 3.1
Year Published:	2011
Assessor/s:	Golani, D., Kada, O., Nouar, A., Quignard, J.P. & Cuttelod, A.
Reviewer/s:	Livingstone, S., Pollard, D. & Carpenter, K.E.
Contributor/s:
Justification: This species is throughout the east Mediterranean Sea. It is caught as bycatch although it is discarded and not sold commercially. For this reason, there is no population information available. The main threats are bycatch and possibly interactions with invasives. This fish is uncommon, but it is unknown if it is naturally rare, or rare due to fishing activities. Therefore this species is listed as Data Deficient.

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	This species is endemic to the Mediterranean. It is present all through the Mediterranean Sea coast, except for Morocco and Algeria (Nielsen 1986). Recently it was found off the Iberian coast (Raventos et al. 2006). It also exists in the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea (Unsal and Oral 1993), including the Crimean peninsula and the Sea of Azov (Nielsen 1986, Salekhova et al. 2007).
Countries:	Native: Albania; Bulgaria; Croatia; Cyprus; Egypt; France; Georgia; Greece; Israel; Italy; Lebanon; Libya; Malta; Monaco; Montenegro; Romania; Russian Federation; Slovenia; Spain; Syrian Arab Republic; Tunisia; Turkey; Ukraine
FAO Marine Fishing Areas:	Native: Mediterranean and Black Sea
Range Map:	Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population:	This is an uncommon species in the Mediterranean Sea, but abundant populations were once recorded from Black Sea. It was commercially exploited in the northern Black Sea until the mid 1970s, but significant population decline was noted due to eutrophication and changes in benthic conditions (Shiganova 1998). Georgian coast population is also noted to be rare (Komakhidze et al. 2003). Artisanal and semi-industrial fisheries are recorded in Cyprus (trawls, trammel nets and beach seine (Bauchot 1987)). It is not a target fish in the rest of the Mediterranean Sea but it is sometimes captured as bycatch and is discarded. There is no fisheries information on this species. Adriatic Sea population is rare according to Jardas and Pallaoro (1987), and very rare according to Bello and Rizzi (1988). Unsal and Oral (1993) mention that only one specimen (8.2 cm total length) was captured from Sea of Marmara, during the period between August 1990 and April 1994. Collection depth was 38 m. According to Cakir et al. (2003) a total of 32 specimens were captured during bottom trawls conducted at Edremit Bay (north Aegean Sea), during September 1999 and September 2000. Specimens had total lengths ranging from 5.2 cm to 8.9 cm.
Population Trend:	Unknown

Population:

This is an uncommon species in the Mediterranean Sea, but abundant populations were once recorded from Black Sea. It was commercially exploited in the northern Black Sea until the mid 1970s, but significant population decline was noted due to eutrophication and changes in benthic conditions (Shiganova 1998). Georgian coast population is also noted to be rare (Komakhidze et al. 2003).

Artisanal and semi-industrial fisheries are recorded in Cyprus (trawls, trammel nets and beach seine (Bauchot 1987)). It is not a target fish in the rest of the Mediterranean Sea but it is sometimes captured as bycatch and is discarded. There is no fisheries information on this species. Adriatic Sea population is rare according to Jardas and Pallaoro (1987), and very rare according to Bello and Rizzi (1988).

Unsal and Oral (1993) mention that only one specimen (8.2 cm total length) was captured from Sea of Marmara, during the period between August 1990 and April 1994. Collection depth was 38 m.

According to Cakir et al. (2003) a total of 32 specimens were captured during bottom trawls conducted at Edremit Bay (north Aegean Sea), during September 1999 and September 2000. Specimens had total lengths ranging from 5.2 cm to 8.9 cm.

Population Trend:

Unknown

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	This is a benthic species that can be found on the upper part of the continental shelf, at depths ranging from 10 to 200 m. It lives on muddy and sandy substrata, migrating to deeper waters during the winter. The species feeds on small fishes and invertebrates. Its reproduction period is from May to August.
Systems:	Marine

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	A possible major threat could be bycatch in trawlers. There could also be potential predation with invasive species from the Red Sea.

Major Threat(s):

A possible major threat could be bycatch in trawlers. There could also be potential predation with invasive species from the Red Sea.

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	There are no specific conservation measures in place.

Conservation Actions:

There are no specific conservation measures in place.

Citation:	Golani, D., Kada, O., Nouar, A., Quignard, J.P. & Cuttelod, A. 2011. Arnoglossus kessleri. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 20 June 2013.
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