Wildlife of the Black Sea Region of Turkey

The wildlife of Turkey’s Black Sea Region belongs to a connected sequence of marine waters, coastal lagoons, river deltas, humid forests, deep valleys and high mountains. Brown bears, Eurasian lynx, roe deer and forest bats occur inland; large wetlands support breeding, migrating and wintering birds; separate river basins contain distinct fish communities; and the southern Black Sea supports three resident cetacean subspecies together with coastal, pelagic and bottom-dwelling fish.

There is no single verified species total for this entire area. The available evidence comes from protected-area records, province surveys, drainage-level fish studies, wetland inventories and marine monitoring programs with different boundaries and sampling methods. The figures below therefore describe their stated study areas rather than an additive total for northern Turkey.

Kızılırmak Delta birds

358 species

The official site reports 140 species breeding in the delta. [a]

Küre Mountains mammals

48 species

A national park record, not a total for the whole Black Sea Region. [b]

Ordu terrestrial vertebrates

219 species

A 2011–2015 survey and record compilation for the city and nearby habitats. [c]

Verified marine gobies

16 species

A revised list for Turkish marine waters of the Black Sea. [d]

A Faunal Region Extending from the Sea to Alpine Slopes

The Black Sea geographical region is broader than the immediate coastline. Its fauna includes animals in coastal waters, deltas and lagoons, north-flowing rivers, lowland agricultural mosaics, deciduous and mixed forests, rocky valleys, montane conifer stands and subalpine grasslands. Province boundaries do not always follow watersheds or ecological transitions, so a record from one province should not automatically be extended across the entire northern belt.

Rainfall, elevation and proximity to the Caucasus create a marked west-to-east change. Western ranges such as Küre, Yenice and Ilgaz retain large forest mammals. Central coastal plains contain the Kızılırmak and Yeşilırmak delta systems. Farther east, steep valleys rise quickly toward the Giresun, Rize and Artvin highlands, where Ponto-Caucasian reptiles, mountain birds and isolated freshwater fish populations become more prominent.

Habitat system	Representative areas	Characteristic fauna	Main ecological connection
Western deciduous and mixed forests	Küre Mountains, Yenice forests, Ilgaz Mountains	Brown bear, Eurasian lynx, red deer, roe deer, grey wolf, wildcat, martens and forest bats	Continuous tree cover, rocky refuges, streams and low-disturbance interior habitat
Central deltas and lagoons	Kızılırmak Delta, Yeşilırmak Delta, Sarıkum and the Sinop coast	Grebes, herons, pelicans, ducks, rails, shorebirds, raptors, Eurasian otter and wetland fish	Feeding and resting habitat linking inland waters with Black Sea migration routes
Eastern humid valleys	Giresun, Trabzon, Rize and Artvin drainage systems	Brown bear, roe deer, Caucasian grouse, rock lizards, vipers, trout and stream invertebrates	Short elevational distances between coast, forest, mountain meadow and alpine terrain
Subalpine and alpine terrain	Kaçkar and adjoining eastern ranges	Caucasian grouse, montane reptiles, small mammals and high-elevation birds of prey	Treeline scrub, rocky slopes, snow-fed streams and seasonally productive meadows
Black Sea river networks	Filyos, Kızılırmak, Yeşilırmak, smaller coastal streams and Çoruh	Barbels, chubs, loaches, trout, shads, eel and historically river-migrating sturgeons	Movement between headwaters, lower channels, estuaries and marine feeding areas
Marine coast and continental shelf	Turkish southern Black Sea waters	Common dolphin, bottlenose dolphin, harbour porpoise, anchovy, sprat, turbot, whiting and gobies	Pelagic food webs, shallow benthic habitat, estuaries and seasonal fish movements

Large Mammals Persist in the Northern Forest Belt

The western and central mountains contain some of the clearest official evidence for northern Turkey’s forest mammals. Ilgaz Mountain National Park records brown bear, red deer, roe deer, grey wolf, Eurasian lynx, red fox, wild boar, European hare, Caucasian squirrel and common pipistrelle. The same source also records common buzzard and lesser spotted eagle in the forest ecosystem. [e]

Yenice Wildlife Development Site adds golden jackal, wildcat, Eurasian otter, pine marten, stone marten, European badger, least weasel, dormice and lesser horseshoe bat. Its records show that the regional mammal community is not limited to conspicuous predators and ungulates; stream corridors, old trees, cavities, dead wood and dense understorey also support semi-aquatic mammals, bats and small nocturnal species. [f]

Common name	Scientific name	Habitat association in the region	Regional evidence represented here
Brown bear	Ursus arctos	Large forest blocks, mountain valleys, forest edges and seasonal feeding areas	Küre, Yenice, Ilgaz, Sinop and eastern Black Sea records
Eurasian lynx	Lynx lynx	Wooded mountain landscapes with secluded cover and wild prey	Officially listed for Ilgaz Mountain National Park
Grey wolf	Canis lupus	Forests, upland pasture mosaics and connected mountain terrain	Repeated official records from western protected areas
Golden jackal	Canis aureus	Lower forest edges, river valleys, scrub and agricultural mosaics	Yenice, Sinop and Ordu records
Red fox	Vulpes vulpes	Forest edge, farmland, uplands and peri-urban habitat	Recorded across several western and central studies
European wildcat	Felis silvestris	Woodlands with dense cover, rocky refuges and low disturbance	Official Yenice and Küre records and the Ordu compilation
Red deer	Cervus elaphus	Large mixed forests, clearings and montane grazing areas	Küre, Yenice and Ilgaz records
Roe deer	Capreolus capreolus	Forest edges, young woodland, clearings and wooded farmland	Widespread in western and central protected-area records
Wild boar	Sus scrofa	Broadleaf forest, wet ground, scrub and cultivated land	Repeated throughout the checked regional sources
European hare	Lepus europaeus	Open woodland, field margins, pasture and upland grassland	Yenice, Ilgaz, Sinop and Ordu records
Caucasian squirrel	Sciurus anomalus	Broadleaf and mixed woodland	Ilgaz and Ordu records
Eurasian otter	Lutra lutra	Rivers, streams, lakes, lagoons and wooded banks	Yenice, Küre, Sinop and Ordu records
Pine marten	Martes martes	Mature forest and wooded mountain habitat	Yenice and Ordu records
Stone marten	Martes foina	Rocky ground, forest edge, villages and agricultural mosaics	Yenice, Sinop and Ordu records
European badger	Meles meles	Woodland edges, sloping farmland and ground suitable for setts	Yenice and Sinop records
Least weasel	Mustela nivalis	Grassland, farmland, scrub and forest-edge small-mammal habitat	Yenice, Sinop and Ordu records
Northern white-breasted hedgehog	Erinaceus concolor	Lowland woodland edge, gardens, fields and scrub	Yenice, Sinop and Ordu records
Hazel dormouse	Muscardinus avellanarius	Shrubby woodland, hazel growth and connected canopy edges	Yenice, Sinop and Ordu records
Lesser horseshoe bat	Rhinolophus hipposideros	Caves, buildings and sheltered roosts near woodland feeding habitat	Yenice and Ordu records
Common pipistrelle	Pipistrellus pipistrellus	Forest edges, river corridors, settlements and parkland	Ilgaz and Ordu records

Protected-area lists confirm presence within their own boundaries. They do not establish equal abundance, continuous distribution or current population trend across the Black Sea Region.

Deltas and Lagoons Hold the Region’s Largest Bird Concentrations

The central coastline widens into alluvial plains and wetland complexes that differ sharply from the steep eastern shore. The 21,700-hectare Kızılırmak Delta Ramsar Area contains lagoons, reedbeds, wet meadows, flooded woodland, dunes, river channels and agricultural ground. It was designated as a Ramsar site in 1998. [g]

The delta’s official figure of 358 recorded bird species and 140 breeding species covers birds accumulated across seasons and years. It includes residents, summer breeders, winter visitors, passage migrants and occasional records. It should not be interpreted as 358 species simultaneously occupying the wetland or breeding there.

Farther west, the official Sinop-Bozburun Wildlife Development Site reports 149 bird species and names a mixture of divers, grebes, cormorants, bitterns and ducks. Its mammal list also includes Eurasian otter, roe deer, wild boar, wolf, jackal, martens and cetaceans recorded in the adjoining coastal setting. [h]

Source-Recorded Wetland and Coastal Birds

The following working list combines species named by the Sinop protected-area record with the broader Ordu survey. It illustrates the variety of waterbirds documented along the coast but is not the full 358-species Kızılırmak checklist.

Common name	Scientific name	Regional habitat use
Red-throated loon	Gavia stellata	Marine inshore waters and sheltered wintering areas
Little grebe	Tachybaptus ruficollis	Small lakes, lagoons, reed-fringed pools and slow water
Great crested grebe	Podiceps cristatus	Larger lakes, lagoons and sheltered coastal water
Red-necked grebe	Podiceps grisegena	Mainly coastal and open-water winter habitat
Black-necked grebe	Podiceps nigricollis	Lagoons, lakes and coastal waters outside the breeding season
Great cormorant	Phalacrocorax carbo	Sea coast, estuaries, river mouths and larger inland waters
Pygmy cormorant	Microcarbo pygmaeus	Shallow wetlands, reedbeds and fish-rich lagoons
Eurasian bittern	Botaurus stellaris	Extensive reedbeds and flooded marsh vegetation
Little bittern	Ixobrychus minutus	Dense reed margins and vegetated freshwater channels
Black-crowned night heron	Nycticorax nycticorax	Wooded wetland margins, marshes and shallow feeding water
Squacco heron	Ardeola ralloides	Shallow marshes, wet meadows and reed edges
Cattle egret	Bubulcus ibis	Wet pasture, grazing areas and shallow marsh margins
Grey heron	Ardea cinerea	Rivers, lagoons, fish ponds, marshes and coast
Purple heron	Ardea purpurea	Large reedbeds and quiet shallow wetlands
Great egret	Ardea alba	Open shallows, wet grassland and lagoon margins
Little egret	Egretta garzetta	Shallow coastal water, river mouths and freshwater marshes
Glossy ibis	Plegadis falcinellus	Muddy shallows, flooded fields and wet meadows
Eurasian spoonbill	Platalea leucorodia	Shallow lagoons and broad wetland feeding areas
Great white pelican	Pelecanus onocrotalus	Large wetlands, river mouths and coastal passage habitat
Dalmatian pelican	Pelecanus crispus	Lagoons, lakes and fish-rich shallow waters
Mute swan	Cygnus olor	Lagoons, lakes and sheltered coastal water
Whooper swan	Cygnus cygnus	Wintering lakes, flooded plains and sheltered shallows
Greater white-fronted goose	Anser albifrons	Wintering fields, wet grassland and shallow wetlands
Ruddy shelduck	Tadorna ferruginea	Open wetlands, riverbanks and surrounding agricultural ground
Common shelduck	Tadorna tadorna	Brackish lagoons, mudflats and estuarine shore
Eurasian wigeon	Mareca penelope	Wintering lagoons, shallow lakes and wet grassland
Mallard	Anas platyrhynchos	Freshwater, brackish lagoons, channels and flooded fields
Northern shoveler	Spatula clypeata	Shallow plankton-rich water and open marsh pools
Northern pintail	Anas acuta	Open shallow wetlands during migration and winter
Garganey	Spatula querquedula	Shallow vegetated wetlands, mainly during passage and breeding season
Eurasian teal	Anas crecca	Shallow lagoons, marsh pools and sheltered channels
Red-crested pochard	Netta rufina	Open lakes and lagoons with submerged vegetation
Common pochard	Aythya ferina	Deeper lakes and lagoon basins
Ferruginous duck	Aythya nyroca	Vegetated freshwater pools, reedbeds and quiet marsh water
Tufted duck	Aythya fuligula	Open freshwater and sheltered coastal winter habitat
Common goldeneye	Bucephala clangula	Coastal and larger inland waters in winter
Smew	Mergellus albellus	Uncommon winter record on sheltered open water
Red-breasted merganser	Mergus serrator	Marine bays, river mouths and coastal winter habitat
Osprey	Pandion haliaetus	Fish-rich lakes, rivers and coastal migration habitat
Western marsh harrier	Circus aeruginosus	Reedbeds, marshes and wet agricultural plains
Water rail	Rallus aquaticus	Dense wetland vegetation and reed-fringed channels
Corn crake	Crex crex	Wet grassland and seasonally flooded meadow
Western swamphen	Porphyrio porphyrio	Large reedbeds and marsh vegetation
Eurasian coot	Fulica atra	Lakes, lagoons and open water beside reed cover
Common crane	Grus grus	Migration stopovers, wet plains and shallow marshes

The Eastern Mountains Carry a Strong Caucasian Faunal Signal

Eastern Black Sea valleys rise from near sea level to montane forest and high grassland over short horizontal distances. This gradient allows lowland, forest, Ponto-Caucasian and alpine-associated animals to occur within adjoining elevation bands. Distribution is still uneven: steep terrain, seasonal snow and limited survey coverage leave some mountain areas less thoroughly inventoried than accessible valleys and protected sites.

Caucasian Grouse at the Upper Forest Edge

The Caucasian grouse, Lyrurus mlokosiewiczi, is one of the clearest bird links between northeastern Turkey and the wider Caucasus. BirdLife International currently classifies the species as Near Threatened. It is associated with mountain landscapes around the upper forest boundary rather than the low coastal plain. [i]

The National Action Plan Uses an Older Genus

Turkey’s species action plan presents the bird as Tetrao mlokosiewiczi. Current BirdLife treatment places it in Lyrurus. The two names refer to the same Caucasian grouse taxon in these sources, not two separate grouse species. The action plan documents its conservation focus in the Eastern Black Sea mountains. [j]

Small-Site Surveys Reveal the Missing Invertebrate Share

A survey around Kılıçkaya in Yusufeli recorded 114 animal taxa: 18 mammals, 25 birds, two reptiles, two amphibians and 67 invertebrates. The figure belongs to one study area and three field seasons in 2016–2017, but its composition demonstrates why a regional account based only on bears, deer and birds would omit much of the recorded fauna. Invertebrate totals are especially sensitive to sampling season, trap type and the specialists involved. [k]

Ordu’s Reptiles Mark the Transition Between Anatolia and the Caucasus

A province-wide Ordu field survey conducted from October 2016 to October 2018 compiled 165 occurrence records representing 15 reptile species in eight families. Six were lizards, seven were snakes and two were a tortoise or freshwater turtle. The records extended from coastal hills to montane forests and elevations above 2,000 metres within the province.

The table reproduces the full species set reported by that survey. Conservation categories are shown as reported in the paper and should be read with the study’s assessment date and taxonomic treatment in mind. The survey reported Darevskia clarkorum as Endangered, Testudo graeca as Vulnerable, and Emys orbicularis and Vipera meridionalis as Near Threatened. [l]

Group	Scientific name	Status reported by the study	Occurrence context in Ordu
Rock lizard	Darevskia rudis	Least Concern	The most frequently encountered species, with 65 locality records across coastal hills and highland forests
Rock lizard	Darevskia clarkorum	Endangered	Recorded at two eastern localities; treated as a narrowly distributed Colchic endemic
Green lizard	Lacerta viridis	Least Concern	Recorded from 35 localities and several habitat types
Dwarf lizard	Parvilacerta parva	Least Concern	Two inland observation points in the survey
Slow worm	Anguis colchica	Not Evaluated in the paper	Sixteen locality records, often associated with humid ground and vegetation cover
Snake-eyed skink	Ablepharus chernovi	Least Concern	A single survey observation point
Grass snake	Natrix natrix	Least Concern	Recorded near freshwater and moist terrestrial habitat
Dice snake	Natrix tessellata	Least Concern	Thirteen locality records associated with aquatic habitat
Smooth snake	Coronella austriaca	Least Concern	Six observation points in the province
Caspian whipsnake	Dolichophis caspius	Least Concern	Two survey localities
Aesculapian snake	Zamenis longissimus	Least Concern	Two survey localities in wooded or vegetated terrain
Viper	Vipera meridionalis	Near Threatened	Three locality records under the taxonomic treatment used by the source
Common European adder	Vipera berus	Least Concern	Two records representing a restricted Anatolian occurrence
Spur-thighed tortoise	Testudo graeca	Vulnerable	Two lowland observation points; also listed in CITES Appendix II by the study
European pond turtle	Emys orbicularis	Near Threatened	Two freshwater-associated records

The Ordu inventory is complete for the species accepted by that survey, not for every reptile that may occur elsewhere in Turkey’s Black Sea Region. Additional eastern and western provinces require their own locality-based treatment.

Each Black Sea River Basin Has Its Own Fish Community

The northern river system is not one continuous freshwater habitat. Coastal streams, the Filyos drainage, Kızılırmak, Yeşilırmak and Çoruh differ in channel size, gradient, temperature, geological history and connection to neighbouring basins. A study of the Anatolian midwestern Black Sea basin recorded 27 fish species in 18 genera and nine families. Its coastal-stream, Filyos and Kızılırmak samples formed three distinguishable groups based on species composition, with the Kızılırmak sample containing the highest richness in that study. [m]

A current national freshwater checklist provides basin-level distribution and taxonomic comments for species associated with Black Sea drainages. The entries below focus on fishes that illustrate endemism, estuarine use or movement between rivers and the sea. They are not a full list of every fish in every northern drainage. [n]

Fish	Scientific name used here	Black Sea regional relationship	Evidence or caution
European eel	Anguilla anguilla	Uses coastal waters and connected inland waters; adults migrate to sea to reproduce	Reported as Critically Endangered in the 2026 Turkish freshwater checklist
Russian sturgeon	Acipenser gueldenstaedtii	Marine and brackish waters with historical river migration	Reported as Critically Endangered; current Turkish river occurrence should not be assumed from historical records
Beluga sturgeon	Huso huso	A very large anadromous sturgeon historically linked to Black Sea rivers	Reported as Critically Endangered; dams and loss of river access affect the migratory life cycle
Stellate sturgeon	Acipenser stellatus	Marine feeding habitat and historical spawning migration into large rivers	Reported as Critically Endangered
Persian sturgeon	Acipenser persicus	Associated in the checklist with the southeastern Black Sea basin and marine or brackish water	Reported as Critically Endangered; its relationship with proposed Black Sea forms remains taxonomically debated
Ship sturgeon	Acipenser nudiventris	Historically included in the Black Sea drainage fauna	The national checklist reports no occurrence in recent decades and considers it probably extirpated from the stated scope
European sturgeon	Acipenser sturio	Historical anadromous member of the Black Sea river fauna	The national checklist reports an absence of recent records and treats it as apparently extirpated from the stated scope
Çoruh trout	Salmo coruhensis	Eastern Black Sea drainage fish with migratory populations using river and marine habitat	Taxonomic literature separates it from other trout formerly grouped under broader Black Sea trout names
Rize trout	Salmo rizeensis	Upper sections of cold, fast-flowing eastern Black Sea streams	A resident mountain-stream form rather than a general name for every trout in the region
Anatolian barbel	Barbus anatolicus	Native to the Kızılırmak and Yeşilırmak systems	Treated as endemic to those drainage systems by the current checklist
Colchic barbel	Barbus rionicus	Çoruh drainage and adjoining Caucasian basin context	Its presence belongs to the eastern drainage rather than all Turkish Black Sea rivers
Crimean barbel	Barbus tauricus	Reported from Anatolian rivers flowing to the Black Sea	Drainage-specific records are still preferable to a coast-wide distribution assumption
Colchic nase	Chondrostoma colchicum	Eastern Black Sea river systems	A Ponto-Caucasian freshwater element tied to suitable flowing-water habitat
Black Sea roach	Rutilus frisii	Lower rivers, estuaries and connected Black Sea waters	Movement and habitat use vary among populations and river systems
Pontic shad	Alosa immaculata	Marine fish that migrates into rivers for reproduction	Requires an open route between coastal feeding grounds and spawning habitat
Black Sea pipefish	Syngnathus nigrolineatus	Coastal, estuarine and lower-river habitats	Demonstrates the overlap between marine, brackish and freshwater records

River Barriers Break a Sea-to-Headwater Life Cycle

Sturgeons, migratory trout, shads and European eel depend on movement through more than one aquatic zone. A review of Turkey’s diadromous fish identifies dams, hydropower structures, weirs, channel modification, gravel extraction, pollution, water abstraction, habitat loss and overfishing among the pressures that interrupt river integrity. A species may remain present in marine water while losing access to former spawning habitat, so a coastal record alone does not confirm a functioning river population. [o]

Sturgeon Genera Differ Between Current Sources

The 2026 Turkish freshwater checklist applies Sterletus to several sturgeons traditionally placed in Acipenser or Huso. WoRMS continues to present Acipenser gueldenstaedtii as an accepted name and retains the established marine register treatment. This page uses the widely recognised Acipenser and Huso combinations while preserving the distribution and conservation comments of the Turkish checklist. [p]

Marine Wildlife of Turkey’s Southern Black Sea Coast

The marine fauna is shaped by coastal shallows, river plumes, sandy and rocky bottom habitat, the continental shelf and seasonally moving fish schools. It must be separated from the fauna of freshwater reaches even where the same species uses an estuary or lower river.

Three Resident Black Sea Cetaceans

Three cetacean species inhabit the Black Sea, each represented by a locally recognised subspecies: the Black Sea common dolphin, Black Sea bottlenose dolphin and Black Sea harbour porpoise. Basin-wide surveys document all three, but survey detections and abundance estimates for the whole Black Sea should not be presented as population totals for Turkish waters alone. [q]

Common name	Scientific name	Main feeding and habitat relationship	Record caution
Black Sea common dolphin	Delphinus delphis ponticus	Pelagic and coastal waters associated with schooling fish	Mobile animals may cross national marine boundaries; sightings do not define a closed local population
Black Sea bottlenose dolphin	Tursiops truncatus ponticus	Coastal and shelf waters, including areas with demersal and migratory fish	Distribution varies with prey, season and survey coverage
Black Sea harbour porpoise	Phocoena phocoena relicta	Coastal and shelf habitat; frequently documented in Black Sea survey and bycatch work	Small body size and brief surfacing make detection sensitive to survey conditions

The Revised Marine Goby Checklist

Published estimates for Black Sea gobies differed because some lists mixed basin-wide records, freshwater species and unverified Turkish marine occurrences. A 2024 review retained 16 species for Turkey’s marine Black Sea waters after excluding questionable or freshwater-only records. The table gives the full accepted set in that review.

Scientific name	Evidence in the revised Turkish marine list	Habitat or taxonomic note
Aphia minuta	Retained	A small pelagic goby rather than a bottom-bound coastal form
Gobius cobitis	Retained	Associated with shallow rocky habitat
Gobius cruentatus	Retained	Rocky and structurally complex coastal bottom habitat
Gobius niger	Retained	Coastal and shelf-bottom habitats
Gobius paganellus	Retained	Shallow rocky shore habitat
Gobius xanthocephalus	Added through verified Turkish records	Yellow-headed goby recorded from the southern Black Sea coast
Mesogobius batrachocephalus	Retained	A large Ponto-Caspian goby of coastal bottom habitat
Neogobius melanostomus	Retained	Round goby; uses marine, brackish and connected lower-water habitats
Pomatoschistus marmoratus	Retained	Shallow sandy and brackish coastal habitat
Pomatoschistus microps	Retained	Very shallow coastal and estuarine habitat
Pomatoschistus minutus	Retained	Sandy coastal bottom habitat
Ponticola platyrostris	Retained	Ponto-Caspian coastal goby
Ponticola ratan	Retained	Bottom-associated Black Sea goby
Ponticola syrman	Retained	Coastal, estuarine and brackish habitat
Zebrus zebrus	Retained	Small cryptic goby associated with sheltered structure
Zosterisessor ophiocephalus	Listed by the study under Gobius ophiocephalus	WoRMS accepts Zosterisessor ophiocephalus as the current combination. [r]

Fish of Coastal, Pelagic and Shelf Habitats

A Black Sea monitoring guideline separates representative fish according to coastal, pelagic and demersal survey settings. The resulting list includes commercially important schooling fish, rays and sharks, benthic predators, pipefish, seahorses, wrasses and flatfish. These are monitoring targets and representative records rather than a complete inventory of Turkish Black Sea fishes. [s]

Common name	Scientific name	Marine zone represented
European anchovy	Engraulis encrasicolus	Pelagic schooling fish and major prey resource
European sprat	Sprattus sprattus	Pelagic shelf waters
European pilchard	Sardina pilchardus	Pelagic and coastal schooling habitat
Mediterranean horse mackerel	Trachurus mediterraneus	Pelagic and shelf waters
Bluefish	Pomatomus saltatrix	Mobile coastal and pelagic predator
Whiting	Merlangius merlangus	Demersal continental-shelf habitat
Red mullet	Mullus barbatus	Sandy and muddy shelf bottom
Turbot	Scophthalmus maximus	Demersal sandy-bottom habitat
European flounder	Platichthys flesus	Coastal, estuarine and lower-river habitat
Common sole	Solea solea	Soft-bottom coastal habitat
Thornback ray	Raja clavata	Demersal shelf habitat
Spiny dogfish	Squalus acanthias	Shelf and deeper demersal waters
Common stingray	Dasyatis pastinaca	Coastal and shelf-bottom habitat
Tub gurnard	Chelidonichthys lucerna	Demersal sandy and mixed bottom
Black scorpionfish	Scorpaena porcus	Rocky coastal bottom
Greater weever	Trachinus draco	Sandy coastal and shelf bottom
Stargazer	Uranoscopus scaber	Burrowing demersal habitat
Greater pipefish	Syngnathus acus	Vegetated and structurally complex coastal habitat
Long-snouted seahorse	Hippocampus guttulatus	Shallow vegetated or structured coastal habitat
Short-snouted seahorse	Hippocampus hippocampus	Coastal bottom habitat with shelter and attachment surfaces

The Main Pressures Operate Across Habitat Boundaries

Forest mammals depend on connected cover rather than isolated protected patches. Wetland birds depend on water depth, reedbeds, open shallows, wet grassland and undisturbed feeding areas. Migratory fishes need passable rivers from the estuary toward spawning habitat. Cetaceans depend on prey availability and face entanglement risk in fishing gear. These links mean that a species can remain recorded in a region while losing part of the habitat required for feeding, reproduction or seasonal movement.

For Black Sea harbour porpoises, ACCOBAMS identifies fisheries bycatch as the most serious documented threat and reports basin-wide bycatch above probable sustainable levels. The report concerns the Black Sea population and fisheries across several countries; it should not be converted into an unsupported mortality estimate for Turkey alone. [t]

Ecological connection	Animals affected	Pressure documented by the checked sources	Why a presence record is insufficient
Continuous forest and quiet refuges	Brown bear, Eurasian lynx, red deer, wildcat, martens and forest bats	Habitat fragmentation, disturbance and loss of mature woodland features	A record does not show whether breeding, shelter and movement habitat remain connected
Wetland water regime	Herons, ducks, rails, pelicans, amphibians, fish and Eurasian otter	Drainage change, pollution, shoreline alteration and disturbance	A bird sighting may represent temporary passage rather than a stable breeding population
River continuity	Sturgeons, shads, migratory trout and European eel	Dams, hydropower works, weirs, channel alteration and water abstraction	Marine survival does not prove access to former spawning reaches
Clean, structured stream habitat	Endemic barbels, trout, loaches and aquatic invertebrates	Pollution, sediment change, extraction and altered flow	A historical locality may no longer retain the conditions associated with the original record
Marine prey and safe movement	Common dolphin, bottlenose dolphin and harbour porpoise	Bycatch, prey depletion, disturbance and marine pollution	Mobile cetaceans can be detected in an area without forming a closed local population

Why the Region Has No Defensible Single Species Total

The available figures measure different things. Kızılırmak’s 358 birds are accumulated records for one delta. Küre’s 48 mammals belong to one national park. The Ordu total combines terrestrial vertebrates recorded through fieldwork, photography, camera traps, earlier publications and qualified observations. The 15-reptile inventory covers one province and a defined field period. The 27-fish result covers selected midwestern drainage samples. The 16-goby list is restricted to Turkish marine Black Sea records after questionable entries were removed.

Adding these numbers would duplicate species, mix marine and terrestrial boundaries, combine local and regional scopes, and treat unequal sampling effort as though it were a single census. A defensible regional total would require an explicit geographic polygon, a fixed taxonomic backbone, dated occurrence filters, treatment of historical and doubtful records, separation of native and introduced taxa, and specialist review across vertebrates and invertebrates.

The source-based lists on this page establish documented components of the Black Sea Region’s fauna. They do not claim to be a complete official inventory of every animal recorded across northern Turkey.

Sources and Verification

[a] Kızılırmak Delta official EkoTaban record — Used for the official count of 358 recorded bird species and 140 species breeding in the delta.
[b] Küre Mountains National Park — Used for the park-level mammal count and examples of forest mammals recorded in the western Black Sea mountains.
[c] Biodiversity in Urban Environments of Ordu City and Nearby Areas: Mammals, Birds, Reptiles and Amphibians — Used for the 2011–2015 Ordu survey scope, the 219-terrestrial-vertebrate total and regional species records.
[d] Gobies on the Turkish Coast of the Black Sea, and First Records of the Yellow-Headed Goby — Used for the revised set of 16 gobiid species confirmed from Turkish marine Black Sea waters and the exclusion of questionable records.
[e] Ilgaz Mountain National Park — Used for official records of Eurasian lynx, brown bear, deer, wolf, wild boar, squirrel, bat and forest birds.
[f] Yenice Wildlife Development Site — Used for the western forest mammal list, including wildcat, Eurasian otter, martens, dormice and lesser horseshoe bat.
[g] Kızılırmak Delta National Ramsar Area — Used for the 21,700-hectare Ramsar boundary and the 1998 designation date.
[h] Sinop-Bozburun Wildlife Development Site — Used for the official 149-bird figure and named coastal birds and mammals.
[i] BirdLife International: Caucasian Grouse Lyrurus mlokosiewiczi — Used for the accepted BirdLife name and current Near Threatened assessment.
[j] Caucasian Grouse National Species Action Plan — Used for the Turkish conservation context and the historical combination Tetrao mlokosiewiczi.
[k] Contributions to the Fauna of Kılıçkaya, Yusufeli, Artvin — Used for the study-area totals of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates recorded in 2016–2017.
[l] Beyond the First Glimpse: A Comprehensive Reappraisal of Reptile Diversity in Ordu Province, Türkiye — Used for the complete 15-species Ordu reptile inventory, occurrence totals and statuses reported by the study.
[m] Freshwater Fishes of the Anatolian Midwestern Black Sea Basin — Used for the 27-species study total and the separation of coastal-stream, Filyos and Kızılırmak fish assemblages.
[n] A Critical Checklist of Turkish Freshwater Fishes (2026) — Used for current basin records, sturgeon comments, freshwater fish taxonomy and conservation categories reported by the checklist.
[o] Current Status of Economically Important Diadromous Fish Species of Turkey — Used for river-connectivity pressures affecting sturgeons, European eel and migratory Black Sea trout.
[p] WoRMS: Acipenser gueldenstaedtii — Used to verify the established accepted marine-register combination applied in the sturgeon table.
[q] ACCOBAMS Black Sea Cetacean Survey Publication — Used to verify the three cetacean subspecies inhabiting the Black Sea and the basin-wide survey context.
[r] WoRMS: Zosterisessor ophiocephalus — Used to update the accepted combination for the grass goby listed under Gobius ophiocephalus in the 2024 regional paper.
[s] Black Sea Monitoring and Assessment Guideline — Used for representative Turkish coastal, pelagic and demersal fish selected for marine monitoring.
[t] ACCOBAMS Report on the Conservation Status of Black Sea Cetaceans — Used for the current basin-wide assessment of harbour porpoise bycatch as the leading documented threat.