First Mediterranean record and north-eastern range extension of the African seahorse Hippocampus algiricus.

The African seahorse Hippocampus algiricus has been considered restricted to the eastern Atlantic coast of Africa, with occasional records in Macaronesian archipelagos. The species is currently classified as Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Here, we report the first confirmed occurrence of this species in the Mediterranean Sea, based on photographic and video evidence. The specimen was identified using diagnostic morphological characters and morphometric analysis. This record represents a north-eastern range extension and aligns with ongoing tropicalization processes in the western Mediterranean driven by rising sea temperatures.