Mariene mollusken uit het oostelijk deel van de Middellandse Zee 13. Veranderingen in het voorkomen van Murex forskoehlii

Forsskål’s Venuscomb Murex forskoehlii was one of the first Erythraean species, which reached the Mediterranean Sea after the opening of the Suez Canal. Although known since 1905 as occurring near Port Saïd, it remained more or less confined in its distribution to the Mediterranean Sea off the Bardawil Lagoon, in North Sinai, Egypt. Only a few spurious records were known from the Bay of Haifa, Israel, and two localities in Lebanon: Jebail and Beirut. In the last two years this situation has changed dramatically. It is now commonly encountered along the Mediterranean coast of Israel, more particularly on sand bottoms at a depth of about 10 m. Local shrimpfishers from Yafo and Haifa complain more and more about the presence of Murex forskoehlii in the Eastern Mediterranean. Not only the spiny shells get stuck in their nets, but they also puncture the shrimps reducing the commercial value of the catch.