Understanding the Spread of Round Goby (Neogobius melanostomus) (Pallas 1814) Along the Southeastern Black Sea Coastline

From 2010 to 2014, a seasonal study on round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) population dynamics was undertaken in the Southeastern Black Sea and Western Black Sea (Sakarya Shelf and Thrace littoral region). The population of N. melanostomus was highest (mean 23.8 kg/km(2)) in the coastal shelf regions where there is large river discharge, compared to the 30-60 m and 60 m and deeper depths of the littoral region, during the five-year monitoring period. On the other hand, biomass was found to decrease gradually over the time-series. When a longer time-scale is accounted for their abundances as part of the benthic-pelagic community are shown to have increased over the past three decades, from 0.09% in the 1990s, to 0.14% in the 2000s, to and 0.34% in the 2010s in this study. As benthic and other top predators have been depleted in the Southern Black Sea especially in the 2000s, the round goby population has significantly increased in response, likely due to a reduction of predators. This increase in round goby population, an important opportunistic species with a wide environmental niche is an important indicator for the macro faunal change in the South Black Sea ecosystem.