Apostichopus japonicus Selenka, 1867

Tolon, Mustafa Tolga & Gökçek, Emel Özcan, 2025, First record of Japanese sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus (Selenka, 1867) (Aspidochirotida: Stichopodidae) from the Mediterranean Sea, Turkey, Zootaxa 5661 (1), pp. 95-107 : 98

Apostichopus japonicus Selenka, 1867

Habitat

The sampling site is on the coast of Çeşme District which is located in the westernmost part of Turkey, extends into the Aegean Sea, and stands out for its tourism, fishing, and maritime trade. This region is also an important area where local commercial sea cucumber species like Holothuria tubulosa Gmelin, 1790 , Holothuria poli Delle Chiaje, 1824 , Holothuria mammata Grube, 1840 , and Holothuria sanctori Delle Chiaje, 1823 are abundantly distributed. The seabed of the sampling zone predominantly comprised a stony-rocky substrate, with occasional observations of seagrass patches.

Remote sensing data from observation satellites for 2024 were used to evaluate the abiotic characteristics of the area where the non-native A. japonicus species had adapted and been sampled. The results indicated that the average bottom seawater temperature was 18.26 ± 0.65 °C (17.34-19.27 °C), mean salinity was 39.36± 0.09 ppt (39.25-39.52 ppt), mean pH was 8.08 ± 0.03 (8.02-8.12) ( Escudier et al. 2020), and the diatom concentration was 10.34 ± 4.84 mg /l (4.08-18.79 mg /l) ( Feudale et al. 2022).