摘要：The Mediterranean Sea is recognized today as the World’s most invaded marine region, but observations of species occurrences remain scattered in the scientifc literature and scarcely accessible . Here we introduce the ORMEF database: a frst comprehensive and robust compilation of exotic fsh observations recorded over more than a century in the Mediterranean . ORMEF consists today of 4015 geo-referenced occurrences from 20 Mediterranean Countries, extracted from 670 scientifc published papers . We collated information on 188 fsh taxa that are thus divided: 106 species entered through the Suez Canal; 25 species introduced by shipping, mariculture, aquarium release or by means of other human activities; 57 Atlantic species, whose arrival in the Mediterranean has been attributed to the unassisted immigration through the strait of Gibraltar. Each observation included in the ORMEF database was submitted to a severe quality control and checked for geographical and taxonomic biases . ORMEF is a new authoritative reference for Mediterranean bio-invasion research and a living archive to inform management strategies and policymakers in a period of rapid environmental transformation .
