Hydrocleys nymphoides (water poppy), an aquatic plant native to South America, has been recorded as invasive on several continents (Europe, Australia and Asia). Here we report on the first known naturalized population in South Africa, in a dam in the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Midlands region, near the town of Howick. This population, first detected and identified in 2009, had by the end of the 2013 summer season occupied 1.8ha (30% of the dam). Surveys of 34 surrounding water bodies during the period between 2012 and 2013 did not result in detection of any new populations. The only other population (0.1 ha) was recorded growing in cultivation at the Durban Botanic Gardens. This note reports on the history of H. nymphoides in South Africa, details its current and potential distribution, looks at the risk it poses, and outlines plans for nation-wide eradication.

Brachyplatys vahlii (Fabricius, 1787) (Hemiptera: Plataspidae) was first detected in Panama in 2012. It represents the second introduction of the Plataspidae into the New World, its first report from the Neotropics, and the first introduction of the genus Brachyplatys into the New World. The bug was identified using morphological characters and confirmed using molecular techniques. This bug poses a potentially serious threat to several important crops in Panama, including the popular Cajanus cajan, known locally as guandú, and peach palm/pixbae palm (Bactris gasipaes), widely cultivated throughout the Neotropics.

The serpulid annelid Ficopomatus enigmaticus is found as a non-indigenous species in many subtropical and temperate habitats, where it often has major effects on the physical structure and community ecology of invaded habitats. In the northeastern Pacific, it has been present in northern California since about 1920, but clearly established populations have not previously been reported from southern California. We describe a large population of F. enigmaticus in the intertidal zone of the Los Angeles River, near Long Beach, California, and a much smaller population in the nearby Port of Los Angeles. Both reproductive adults and new recruits were common in the Los Angeles River population, suggesting that it is well established. We also describe previously unpublished observations of two additional populations in isolated lagoons in Santa Barbara County. Broader surveys aimed at establishing the distribution of this serpulid in central and southern California are needed to evaluate hypotheses on its pathway and timing of introduction to southern California, to evaluate risks of intraregional spread, and to begin to explore management strategies.

In 2013, the invasive marine ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi was first recorded in a true lake, Birket Qarun in the Fayum, Egyptian Desert. In 2014, it expanded in numbers and was also recorded in lake El Rayan II, south of Birket Qarun. Both lakes are saline, with Birket Qarun currently more concentrated than seawater. In the hot summer of 2015, a huge mortality was recorded, with only few larvae surviving. Whereas previous invasions were made possible by transportation in ship ballast water, trucks transporting mullet fry from aquaculture facilities in the Nile Delta to Birket Qarun and Lake Rayan II triggered the Fayum invasion. This is the first ever record of a ctenophore in an inland environment. We do not expect this invasion to be permanent, but it may damage the lake fisheries in the years ahead.

The invasion of the Asian clam, Corbicula fluminea (O.F. Müller, 1774), has caused serious ecological and economic problems worldwide. In the Japanese archipelago, C. fluminea has been identified using morphological characteristics in most distribution surveys. However, a recent study has shown that morphology alone cannot be used to identify C. fluminea due to its superficial similarity to the related native species C. leana Prime, 1867. Consequently, the present distribution of C. fluminea is still poorly understood. We surveyed the distribution of C. fluminea on Kyushu Island, Japan, by sequencing the cytochrome b region of the mitochondrial DNA, a region that can be used to distinguish the two clam species, and found that C. fluminea was already established throughout the entire island, except at a single site where Corbicula clams comprised solely of C. leana. In response to this serious situation, we suggest using PCR-RFLP method, which was employed here, to distinguish the two clam species for more effective and rapid surveys.

The Dnieper Reservoir has significantly contributed as a primary source of invasive Ponto-Caspian crustaceans of Europe; therefore, the mysid populations it sustains are central to the research of invasion histories. However, the reservoir remains a waterbody susceptible to changes including the advent of new species. Mysid investigations in 2012–2014 revealed five species, Limnomysis benedeni, Paramysis lacustris, P. intermedia, P. bakuensis and Katamysis warpachowskyi, inhabiting the Dnieper Reservoir, and one species, L. benedeni, known to occur in the Dnieper-Donbass Canal. Including the previously reported Hemimysis anomala, the currently known mysid fauna of the Dnieper Reservoir consists of six species. Two of the species, P. intermedia and P. bakuensis, are reported from the reservoir for the first time. Currently, the dominant species in the shallow littoral zone are L. benedeni and P. intermedia, while P. lacustris mostly occurs in offshore depths. Two out of six occurring species, L. benedeni and P. lacustris, were deliberately introduced into the middle reaches of the Dnieper River, which must have contributed to their establishment in the reservoir. Meanwhile most of remaining four species, presumably, have invaded the Dnieper Reservoir by shipping. However, possibilities of an accidental introduction of these species or their historical presence in some habitats of the middle reaches of the Dnieper River may not be excluded. In conclusion, there have been rather significant changes in documented species composition of mysids in the reservoir, altering the scientifically valuable source populations of European invasions.

Sicyonia lancifer (Olivier, 1811), a widely distributed Indo-West Pacific rock shrimp, was recently collected off the Mediterranean coasts of Turkey and Israel. This is the first record of the species in the Mediterranean Sea. The species is illustrated, and differentiated from its native Mediterranean congener, S. carinata (Brünnich, 1768).

The occurrence of the blue swimmer crab Portunus segnis, a Lessepsian species, within Maltese coastal waters is recorded for the second time. A single male was caught form the shore by means of rod fishing. The individual was caught from a depth of 3 m in close proximity to a busy cargo-handling port. The first record of the species from Maltese waters was made in 1984. P. segnis represents yet another Lessepsian species which has established large populations in the Gulf of Gabes, within Tunisian waters to the south of Malta, but only occurs occasionally in Maltese waters.

The occurrence of puffer fish species along the Egyptian Mediterranean coast was evaluated using samples obtained from the commercial fishing operations during 2012 – 2015. Six species were identified: Lagocephalus sceleratus (Gmelin, 1789); Lagocephalus suezensis Clark and Gohar, 1953; Lagocephalus guentheri Miranda Ribeiro, 1915; Lagocephalus lagocephalus (Linnaeus, 1758); Torquigener flavimaculosus Hardy & Randall, 1983 and Sphoeroides pachygaster (Müller & Troschel, 1848). Of these, L. guentheri; L. suezensis; S. pachygaster and T. flavimaculosus were recorded for first time in the Egyptian Mediterranean waters. Pufferfishes were captured from sandy, rocky and muddy-bottom habitats from shallow waters to more than 150 m deep. The presence of different tropical puffer fish species in the Egyptian Mediterranean waters reflects the ongoing Lessepsian migration and expansion of its distributions, particularly for L. sceleratus which was the common distributed one along the coast. This study filled in a major the gap in records of species’ distributions and is further evidence of the changing of biodiversity in the Mediterranean Sea, which may affect the ecosystem and the commercial fisheries. The results emphasize the need for a continuous, directed, monitoring and management plan for the detection and abundance monitoring of alien species.

The cobia Rachycentron canadum (Linnaeus, 1766) is a highly valued fish by aquaculture producers and anglers. In spite of its wide-ranging distribution in tropical and subtropical seas, this species was absent in the Tropical Eastern Pacific until recently. In 2013 the government of Ecuador allowed the cultivation of cobia in offshore cages and in April 2015 three cages were deployed in Ecuadorian waters of the Pacific Ocean (Jaramijó, Manabí). Cobias escaped from one of these cages in August 2015 and we present the first report of R. canadum in the Colombian Pacific coast, ca. 600 km from the Ecuadorian escape locality. This is the first report of its occurrence for the entire Tropical Eastern Pacific biogeographical region. Given its predatory nature, it is to investigate the potential ecological and socio-economic consequences of the introduction of the cobia in the region.