Mariene mollusken uit het oostelijk deel van de Middellandse Zee 14. De eerste vondsten van Octopus cyanea

The well-known Indo-Pacific cephalopod Octopus cyanea Gray, 1849, family Octopidae, is here recorded for the first time from the Eastern Mediterranean off the coast of Israel. Two records are known, both based on the find of a single adult specimen. One had been caught south of Akko, off ‘Frutarom’, at a depth of 14 m; the other off Mikhmoret, both in the winter of 1997-98. The latter specimen has been kept alive in an aquarium at the Nautical School, Mevo’ot Yam, Mikhmoret. Follow up studies have to prove whether this Lessepsian migrant managed to get a permanent foothold in the Eastern Mediterranean.