On the importance of citizen-science: the first record of goniobranchus obsoletus (Rüppell and leuckart, 1830) from cyprus (mollusca: Gastropoda: Nudibranchia)

Abstract

The Mediterranean Sea faces unprecedented challenges by the increasing of non-indigenous species (NIS) introductions. Cyprus is the first European country affected by Lessepsian immigration, being along the natural pathway of many of the Indo-Pacific taxa spreading from the Red Sea; thus, it has a pioneer role in detecting alien species and in demonstrating that a concerted action is necessary at early stages of invasion, as required by the recent EU Regulation on NIS (EC/1143/2014). This study reports for the first time the presence of the nudibranch Goniobranchus obsoletus from Cyprus and confirms its spread in the basin, after its first sightings in Israel. Moreover, the records were collected in the context of a citizen project, this taxon being first detected by a scuba diver and then posted on a dedicated Facebook group. This study, therefore, proves once more the importance of technology utilization in early detection of non-indigenous species and suggests that citizen-science can form an integral tool for the implementation of the EU Regulation and should be further promoted by the national and international management authorities.