NATO-Backed Study Finds Two Anchovy Species Mixing in Türkiye's Black Sea Waters

Scientists working on a NATO-supported research project have discovered that Black Sea anchovies in waters off Türkiye are sharing habitat with a separate anchovy species native to the Sea of Azov, marking an unusual mixing of the two populations.

The two-year international project, involving researchers from Türkiye, Ukraine, Bulgaria, and Russia, was launched to improve fish stock inventories and management across the Black Sea region.

Prof. Dr. Levent Bat of Ondokuzmayis University's Faculty of Fisheries in Sinop confirmed the mingling is physical rather than genetic: the populations occupy the same waters but have not interbred. He noted the phenomenon has not been observed in Bulgarian or Ukrainian coastal zones, and its appearance specifically in Türkiye's waters remains under investigation.

The project will examine anchovy morphology, height-to-weight ratios, fat content, and population counts at regular intervals along the Black Sea coasts of Türkiye, Bulgaria, and Ukraine.

Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in October 2006, in its own words.