A survey of marine bony fishes of the Gaza Strip, Palestine

The East Mediterranean Sea is home to a wealth of marine resources including the bony fishes (Class Osteichthyes), which constitute a capital source of protein worldwide. The marine bony fishes caught in the Gaza Strip have never been scientifically studied. Hence, the current study, which is the first of its kind in the Gaza Strip, aims at surveying the marine bony fishes caught and displayed for sale at the El-Hesba and auction markets located proximate to the Gaza Fishing Harbor of the Gaza Strip. Many visits were carried out in the early morning times to the markets in question to survey the caught bony fishes. Photos were taken for documentary and confirmatory purposes. A considerable number of fish samples were preserved in formalin 10% at the Department of Biology, Islamic University of Gaza. A total of 128 bony fish species belonging to 56 families and 15 orders were identified and recorded. Perciformes was the biggest order and comprised 63% of recorded species. Sparidae was the biggest family and comprised 17% of recorded species. Of the recorded species, 70% were native, and 30% were exotic.