Distribution of the invasive ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi (Agassiz, 1865) in the North-eastren Aegea Sea in August 1998

The native habitats of Mnemiopsis leidyi are temperate to subtropical estuaries along the Atlantic coast of the North and South America, where it is found in an extremely wide range of environmental conditions (temperatures of 2-320$^\circ$ C , salinities of <2-38%0). In the early1980s, it was accidentally introduced to the Black Sea, where it flourished and expanded into the Azov, Marmara and Mediterranean Sea. The presence of Mnemiopsis leidyi (Ctenophora) in the coastal waters of Gökçeada Island (the north-eastern Aegean Sea) was investigated by means of horizontal net tows during a survey between 24-25 August 1998. M. leidyi was sampled from the 9 stations where the abundance varied between 0 and 8.3 ind./100$m^3$ and the biomass between 0 and 28.2 g/100$m^3