The striated fusilier Caesio striata, is recorded for the first time in Indian waters. A single specimen was caught in the Gulf of Mannar and landed at Tuticorin fisheries harbour in September 2010.

One female specimen of Torpedo sinuspersici was collected from the trawl catch along the Saurashtra coast of Junagadh district, Gujarat, India. Although a total 486 species of marine fish have been identified so far from the State, the present paper describes the first record of T. sinuspersici from the coast of Gujarat State of India.

The few records of introduced barnacles in Brazil are most commonly reported on artificial (anthropic) substrates. Here we examine the barnacle assemblage in the intertidal regions of rocky shores and natural reefs and build a data base for future monitoring and study for Brazil. We sampled 24 locations between 3 and 29°S latitude. While we found three introduced (Amphibalanus reticulatus, Megabalanus coccopoma and A. amphitrite) and three cryptogenic species (M. tintinnabulum, A. improvisus and Newmanella radiata), they were uncommon at all locations and only M. coccopoma was widespread south of 20°. Native species still predominated in all samples. Management strategies should focus on preventing future invasions on locations where species have not reached yet.

Monotygma watsoni, a minute parasitic pyramidellid gastropod is newly recorded in the Mediterranean Sea from specimens recently collected off the Israeli coastline. The species, described and illustrated, matches the three syntypes of Ceratia watsoni collected in the southern Red Sea. The characteristic protoconch and teleoconch sculpture led us to assign it to Monotygma. It is the fourteenth Erythraean alien pyramidellid species recorded in the Levantine Basin. The large populations of a great number of Erythraean aliens in the Levantine Basin may serve as reservoir hosts for pyramidellids, many of which seem to be parasitic generalists, and may be introduced to native Mediterranean hosts.

The distribution range of several species of Ascidiacea is expanding due to human-based transportation between biogeographical regions. Ship movement in Brazil has increased over the past few years due to world commerce and oil exploration, which has increased the number of species transported and introduced to new areas. This ship movement has made harbour areas a suitable place to detect the introduction of many species. In this work, we report the first record in the south-west Atlantic of the solitary Ascidiacea Rhodosoma turcicum. This species has been recorded since 2009 at Forno Harbour, in Arraial do Cabo, but exclusively inside cages protected from predators. This suggests biological control of the species is preventing its spread throughout the area.

On 18 March 2012, a female specimen of the sand tiger shark, Carcharias taurus, measuring 256 cm, was by-caught by a net fisherman targeting narrow-barred Spanish mackerel, Scomberomorus commerson, off Dalma Island in Abu Dhabi waters. This occurrence represents the first documented record of C. taurus in United Arab Emirates waters. The geographical distribution of this species in the Arabian/Persian Gulf is discussed and updated. The limited records of this species in this body of water may be due to the absence of rigorous species landing reports across countries bordering the Arabian/Persian Gulf.

The presence of a shrimp necrotizing hepatopancreatitis bacterium (NHP) in zooplankton samples from the Gulf of California was confirmed by qPCR and DNA sequences analysis. Samples of zooplankton were collected from stations located on the eastern shore of the Gulf of California, an area adjacent geographically to the coast of Sonora, Mexico. Three zooplankton samples (NHP S3, S23 and S24) were detected. These samples were collected in Bahía de Agiabampo and Bahía de Guasimas, an area distributed along the length of the coast in the vicinity of a shrimp farm area. These results clearly indicate that NHP-B may be associated or colonizing zooplankton, which may serve as a potential vector of potential importance in the spread of this disease. The biological meaning of this finding is discussed.

The first record of Naso reticulatus from Indian waters is documented. This species was reported only by its type specimens from Indonesia and Taiwan previously. Our record of this species from Indian waters extends the distributional range of N. reticulatus to the east coast of India.

The longfin gunnel, Pholis clemensi, was previously reported to range as far south as Point Arena California in the Pacific Ocean. New observations are documented south to Point Lobos with geo-referenced photographs from remotely operated vehicles extending the known range to 304.5 km.

Four species of Ophelina, collected from the deep waters off southern Brazil (700–2000 m) between 21°18 S and 23° S, are described, viz., Ophelina abranchiata, O. cf. cylindricaudata, O. chaetifera and O. aulogastrella. These reports extend the distribution of O. abranchiata and O. chaetifera to the South Atlantic Ocean and the distribution of O. aulogastrella to the western South Atlantic.

This is the first report about the arrival of the encrusting cheilostomatid bryozoan Watersipora subtorquata on floating seaweeds in German coastal waters of the North Sea. During summer 2012, drifting or stranded thalli of the non-indigenous brown macroalga Himanthalia elongata were investigated on the island of Helgoland showing numerous benthic species covering the holdfast of Himanthalia. Out of the 120 basal structures investigated, 8.3% had viable colonies of the invasive, non-native W. subtorquata attached to them. Himanthalia and W. subtorquata have both their nearest origin reported to be in the English Channel (La Manche), approximately 800 km away from Helgoland. Now we found W. subtorquata as a rafting species in the eastern part of the North Sea, showing its ability to distribute easily over very large distances using floating algae as a natural transport vector. This event might constitute the first step in the potential introduction of this alien species into German coastal waters.

This paper reports on the first record of the hydroid Eudendrium carneum in India near Poshitra, on the coast of Gujarat. The hydroid was identified by its colony characters, reproductive structures, polyp morphology and nematocysts.

Medicorophium runcicorne is described from the Canary Islands. This is the first record of the genus from outside the Mediterranean and Black Seas. A key is provided to the species of Medicorophium.

Seven coral reef-associated and deep-water fish species were found in a local fish market on Samal Island in the Davao Gulf, constituting the first records for the Philippine archipelago. The specific geographical distributions of Eumegistus illustris (Bramidae), Paracaesio kusakarii (Lutjanidae) and Saloptia powelli (Serranidae) are greatly enlarged by these observations. The first records of Ariomma brevimanum (Ariommatidae), Brama orcini (Bramidae), Aulacocephalus temminckii (Serranidae) and Pseudanthias fasciatus (Serranidae) confirm the Indo-Pacific-wide distributions of these species. In contrast to the other records, A. brevimanum and B. orcini were encountered regularly and length–weight relationships, not earlier provided in the scientific literature, were calculated. We also measured the largest specimen ever for B. orcini (total length of 420 mm). These observations substantiate the uniqueness of the poorly-studied fauna of the southern Philippines and underline the importance of marine Philippine fauna within the Coral Triangle.

The Ponto-Caspian hydroid Cordylophora caspia has been found for the first time in the Tagus estuary. There is only one previous citation for this invasive species in Portuguese waters. The colonies of C. caspia were branched and had healthy gastrozooids and gonophores. The specimens were collected from a saline boundary zone characterized by high fluctuations in salinity (maximum of 15.3 and minimum of 0.2) and high suspended solids loading. Cordylophora caspia is capable of colonizing man-made infrastructures such as industrial facilities and can inhabit both brackish and freshwater environments. These features of C. caspia, together with its resilience when in a dormant stage (menonts), indicate that the monitoring of this invasive species is advisable in the Tagus estuary.

Ocean sunfish from the genus Mola, family Molidae, are the world's heaviest bony fish, reaching 2500 kg, primarily on a diet of gelatinous zooplankton. Three molid species are reported to occur in the Galápagos archipelago: Mola mola, Masturus lanceolatus and Ranzania laevis. To date, no genetic analysis of any molid has been conducted in Galápagos. In October 2011, tissue samples were obtained from nine sunfish at Punta Vicente Roca, Isabela Island, genetically analysed and found to be Mola ramsayi—the southern sunfish. This marks the first record of M. ramsayi in Galápagos waters.

Fan worms (Sabellidae: Polychaeta) are known to inhabit deep-sea environments and some species have been reported from hydrothermal vents. However, this is the first record of a Bispira species from this environment. The specimens identified as Bispira wireni were collected at the Izena Hole, Okinawa Trough, Japan. We describe the specimens from this location and provide new insights about the morphological features of this species, previously reported from sediments at 150–300 m in Sagami Bay.

The wood boring isopod, Sphaeroma terebrans is reported for the first time from Brunei coastal waters. The species was found inhabiting fallen wood, jetty piles, wooden poles of water villages and mangrove trees along the Brunei River estuary. Threats to the integrity of such structures and plants through the boring activities of this isopod have the potential for major economic and social impact in Brunei.

Bryozoans are common fouling species present on ships and artificial substrates. A number of projects reporting the presence of bryozoans in Portugal have been carried out in recent years. As part of a field survey to examine and quantify the non-indigenous marine fouling species in several marinas in Portugal, we detected the bryozoan Celleporaria brunnea for the first time. The native range of C. brunnea seems to extend from British Columbia to the Galapagos, Ecuador. Our discovery indicates that this is the first record of C. brunnea across the East Atlantic and the first record of a species in this genus in the north-eastern Atlantic. The fouling nature of Celleporaria brunnea may have facilitated its spread to the western Pacific, the Mediterranean and now the eastern Atlantic from the Americas.

Saron marmoratus, a colourful Indo-Pacific ‘marble shrimp’, is newly recorded in the Mediterranean Sea from specimens recently photographed along the Israeli coastline. The colour pattern of the species is described and illustrated. It is the second Indo-Pacific hippolytid species recorded in the Mediterranean.