The First Marine Record of Northern Pike Esox lucius Linnaeus, 1758 in the Mediterranean SeaSoldo, Alen (Avtor) Esox luciusnorthern pikesalinity tolerancehypo-osmoregulatory processAdriatic Seaarea expansionNear the coast of Stobreč, Central Adriatic Sea, a recreational fisher caught a strange fish specimen at a depth of 5 m, using a fishing trident. Upon the arrival of the fisher in the harbor the specimen was taken away for analysis. This revealed that the specimen’s morphological characteristics matched those of the northern pike Esox lucius Linnaeus, 1758. As the northern pike is a stenohaline freshwater fish, it had never been recorded before in the high salinity marine conditions of the Adriatic Sea or anywhere else in the Mediterranean. The collected specimen most likely originated from the nearby short river Žrnovnica. This paper discusses the possibility that the northern pike introduced to some rivers emptying into the Adriatic Sea may possess the local ability to withstand short trips to high salinity waters.20232026-07-09 17:23:29Delo ni kategorizirano30994slImetniki avtorskih pravic na prispevkih so avtorji. CC BY-NC 4.0