Sand beach nourishment (BN) is one of the commonest “soft solutions” for shore protection and restoration. Yet it may have ecological consequences. Can this practice enhance the introduction and dispersal of non-indigenous species (NIS)? There has been little research on the impacts of nourishment on NIS, especially in the southeastern Mediterranean, a region considered most affected by invading biota. However, so far only one...

The Indo‐Pacific oyster Chama pacifica Broderip, 1835 (Mollusca, Bivalvia, Chamidae) is rarely found in the Northern Red Sea reefs of Eilat (Gulf of Aqaba), where it is outnumbered by its indigenous congener, Chama savignyi Lamy, 1921. The influx of Eritrean biota from the Red Sea into the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal has led to the formation of massive Chama oyster beds along the Eastern Mediterranean shore. However,...

Summary Gill bacterial communities of Chama pacifica , an Indo‐Pacific invasive oyster to the eastern Mediterranean Sea, were compared with those of Chama savignyi , its northern Red Sea congeneric species. Summer and winter bacterial populations were characterized and compared using 16S rDNA clone libraries, and seasonal population dynamics were monitored by automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (ARISA). Clone librar...