The red striped mullet is an extremely rare fish species in the Baltic Sea. The specimen collected in the Pomeranian Bay was identified

as Mullus surmuletus, although some characters were typical of M. barbatus. Nonetheless, the specimen’s identity was confirmed by Franz Uiblein (personal communication) as a ‘North-Sea’ form of M. surmuletus. There is a considerable lack of basic systematic and taxonomic knowledge on goatfishes, intraspecific morphological variation and genetic differentiation, and further detailed studies are required ( Uiblein 2007). There is considerable variation in the Mullus genus, even among populations from neighbouring habitats, which to some extent may reflect phenotypic plasticity ( Uiblein et al. 1998). Much more information may still be hidden behind morphological differentiation, if a specimen of Mullus from the MLN8237 price Skagerrak exhibiting a head shape intermediate between red mullet M. barbatus and striped red mullet M. surmuletus is anything to go by. Fage (1909, after Uiblein 2007) distinguished southern and northern forms of striped red mullet based mainly on head shape. There have also been problems with the correct identification of learn more Mullus spp. during regular bottom trawls in the North Sea. Additional confusion may arise from the continued usage of the common name ‘red mullet’ for both species. Recently, a detailed comparison of Mullus

specimens from the North Sea was started as part of an intended revision of the genus ( Uiblein 2007). Mullus either surmuletus has the status of RA (rare) on the HELCOM (2007) List of Species not threatened in the Baltic, its region of distribution

being in the Skagerrak, Kattegat and western Baltic. M. surmuletus is on the list of fish species occurring in German North Sea and western Baltic waters ( Ehrich et al. 2006); the frequency of occurrence in the total number of hauls in the former region is 6.05%; in the latter one it is low (0.98%). Lampart-Kałużniacka et al. (2007) reported the occurrence of 3 individuals of Mullus, identified as M. barbatus in Polish coastal waters (between 1998 and 2000, between the Kołobrzeg and łeba fishing grounds). Grygiel (2009) reported the presence of one specimen of striped red mullet in catches from open Baltic waters (56°N, 17°30′E) in 2007, and Skóra (2007) also reported one specimen from the Gulf of Gdańsk. Temperature increases and longer warming up periods may induce M. surmuletus to migrate to higher latitudes in the North Sea. Isolated occurrences of this species in the Norwegian Sea at 60°N have been documented ( Uiblein 2007). In the North Sea it was not caught by international bottom trawl surveys before 1988, but an ongoing northward shift in its distribution has been demonstrated since, with steadily increasing abundance in south-western areas ( Beare et al. 2004). This change in distribution and abundance has happened during a phase when temperature rises have taken place as a result of global climate change ( Hulme et al. 2002).