Fish Diversity in the Red Sea

Dear Colleagues,

The Red Sea, in its present-day appearance with its only natural opening in the south (to the Indian Ocean), is a relatively young ecosystem but has experienced extraordinary environmental change due to periodic isolation related to Pleistocene sea-level changes. Environmental conditions in the Red Sea change drastically within a latitudinal range of 2000 kilometers, especially with respect to declining salinity and increasing temperature and nutrient concentrations from North to South. The shallow connection to the Indian Ocean and warm deep-sea waters prevented colonization of the Red Sea by primary deep-sea fishes, and a unique secondary deep-sea fish fauna evolved. Notwithstanding, or because of its distinctive features, the Red Sea—with more than 1200 fish species recorded—harbors the most diverse fish fauna of any of the world’s peripheral seas.

The diversity of fishes in the Red Sea, particularly those associated with coral reefs, has fascinated researchers and laypersons for more than two centuries. In the course of continued studies, the taxonomic status of many species has been subject to repeated change since fish species were first described. Many species found in the Red Sea have subsequently been placed in synonymy of Indo-Pacific congeners, resulting in a decrease in the recognized numbers of endemics. Only in recent years, as a consequence of intensified research efforts and by application of integrative taxonomic approaches, has a much higher degree of endemism become apparent. Studies on the phylogeography of Red Sea fishes, population genetics and their evolutionary genomics have shed light on evolutionary processes fundamental to our understanding of the unique present-day Red Sea fish fauna. This Special Issue will present a variety of studies on Red Sea fishes, including their taxonomy, phylogeography and evolutionary genetics, and manuscripts on a broad range of ichthyological research are invited.

Dr. Tilman J. Alpermann
Dr. Moritz Sonnewald
Dr. Barry Russell
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• ichthyological exploration
• integrative taxonomy
• phylogeography
• population genetics
• evolutionary genomics
• community dynamics
• ecological adaptations
• conservation and management