The first capture of whiting Merlangius merlangus (Linnaeus, 1758) in Taganrog Bay of the Azov Sea

Background. Due to the ongoing increase in the salinity of the waters of the Azov Sea and Taganrog Bay, an expansion of the habitat of many marine fish species has been observed in this area. Relevance. Some species invade the water bodies where they have not been previously recorded, which indicates an expansion of their range and changes our understanding of their ecological characteristics and environmental limiting factors. The aim of this work is to describe the first record of whiting Merlangius merlangus in Taganrog Bay. Methods. The first capture of whiting in Taganrog Bay occurred in the course the ichthyoplankton and zooplankton surveys conducted with a lampara net in the Azov Sea by the employees of the Azov-Black Sea Branch of the State Research Center of the Russian Federation FSBSI “VNIRO” (“AzNIIRKH”). Results. A detailed morphological description of the caught specimen is provided. Comparison of the nucleotide sequence of the COI gene region of mitochondrial DNA with data from the gene bank indicates that the investigated specimen belongs to the species M. merlangus. Conclusion. The observed trend of expansion of the range of some marine fish species in the Azov Sea Basin and their new findings in the water bodies where they had not been previously recorded result from the ongoing increase in the water salinity of the Azov Sea and Taganrog Bay.