RESEARCH ARTICLE Influence of Mediterranean Sea Temperature Increase on Gaeta Gulf (Tyrrhenian Sea) Biodiversity Matteo Gentilucci 1 • Costantino Parisi 2,3 • Maria Rosaria Coppola 2 • Fatima-Zahra Majdoubi 4,2 • Adriano Madonna 2 • Giulia Guerriero 2,5 Received: 7 April 2020 / Revised: 7 June 2020 / Accepted: 16 June 2020 Ó Zoological Society, Kolkata, India 2020 Abstract In this study, temperature variations and inva- sion on marine fauna are investigated to ascertain their relationship in the Mediterranean at the Gaeta Gulf (Tyrrhenian Sea). Sea temperatures were collected from 1986 to 2009, the only period in which the AVHRR sensor installed on NOAA satellite was available. Changes in the sea surface temperature from satellite using GIS software were estimated. Research on marine species was carried out using the barcoding technique. Nine organisms of which one Anthozoa and one Malacostraca and eight belonging to Actinopterygii Class were barcoded from 2005 to 2019 and four of these were detected as non- indigenous species. The first sightings are related to Fis- tularia commersonii, and Sphoeroides pachygaster identi- fied since 2009 and well reported in our previous publication. They have penetrated the Mediterranean from the Indian Ocean (through the Suez Canal) and from the Atlantic Ocean (Strait of Gibraltar) respectively and are still sporadic. These bioinvasions were linked for the first time to water heating, which increased by about 0.4 °C between 1989–1999 and 1999–2009. In addition, there are other identifications, such as Arothron diadematus from the Suez Canal, Percnon gibbesi from the Strait of Gibraltar; thermophilus indigenous species such as Pomadasys inci- sus and Astroides calycularis and sporadic autochthonous species such as Sudis hyalina, Tetragonurus cuvieri, Tra- chipterus trachipterus, and Remora osteochir. Non-native species and their invasions could lead to radical and sudden upheavals in the Mediterranean marine ecosystem and therefore require constant alert of sea surface temperature change. Keywords Mediterranean Sea  Climate change  GIS  Sea surface temperatures  Non-indigenous specie (NIS)  Barcoding  Gaeta Gulf biodiversity Introduction The Mediterranean Sea is the largest semi-enclosed Euro- pean sea, surrounded by the continents of Europe, Africa and Asia. It is formed by two major basins, the Western Mediterranean and the Eastern Mediterranean. These two basins are separated by the Strait of Sicily and they are further subdivided into sub-basins such as the Alboran, & Matteo Gentilucci matteo.gentilucci@unicam.it & Giulia Guerriero giulia.guerriero@unina.it Costantino Parisi cparisi@iimcb.gov.pl Fatima-Zahra Majdoubi f.zmajdoubi@gmail.com Adriano Madonna adrimad@gmail.com 1 Department of Earth Sciences, University of Camerino, Via Gentile III da Varano, 62032 Camerino, Italy 2 Laboratory of Comparative Endocrinology, Department of Biology, University of Naples Federico II, Complesso Universitario di Monte S. Angelo, Via Cintia 26, 80126 Naples, Italy 3 Laboratory of Zebrafish Developmental Genomics, International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, 02-109 Warsaw, Poland 4 Department of Life Science, FST, University of Sultan Moulay Slimane, Be ´ni-Mellal, Morocco 5 Interdepartmental Research Center for Environment, University of Naples Federico II, Via Mezzocannone 16, 80134 Naples, Italy 123 Proc Zool Soc https://doi.org/10.1007/s12595-020-00334-6 T H E Z O O L O G I C A L S O C I E T Y K O L K A T A