The marine gastropod Anachis aliceae (Pallary, 1900) is reported with certainty for the first time from the Algarve, south coast of Portugal from species-rich rocky priority biotope. Several live specimens of this species belonging to the Columbellidae family were collected and identified from by-catch samples, recovered from octopus traps set at depths between 50 and 70 m off Ponta da Piedade. Taxonomic validation of the newly recorded species is based on the comparison to other related species within the genus.

Two sites in southern Portugal that had previously been surveyed in 1998 for the presence of the non-indigenous barnacle Austrominius modestus, were re-examined in March/April 2011 and 2012. Austrominius had increased in abundance at the site where it had previously been found, from being occasional to frequent. At the second site this species had been absent when surveyed in 1998 and in 2011, but a few individuals were found in 2012. At a third site, which was examined in April 2013 only, the species was found to be occasional. It would be worth examining more sites further along the southern Algarve coast, as well as in the Mediterranean, to establish whether this species has spread to other new locations.

Twenty-five specimens of the hermit crab Calcinus tubularis were observed during SCUBA dives for fauna and flora assessment in the shallow rocky reefs of the southern coast of Portugal between 2003 and 2008. Of the specimens observed, only one specimen used a tube gallery, while the others occupied unidentified gastropod shells with strong bio-cover. Calcinus tubularis is here recorded from the mainland Portuguese coast for the first time. This is the first record of the species in European coastal waters outside the Mediterranean Sea (excluding the Atlantic Islands) and extends the known geographical distribution of the species further north in the north-eastern Atlantic.

A new lichen species, Waynea giraltiae van den Boom, is described from southern Portugal and Spain. It is characterized by a very fine tomentum on the squamulose thallus, fusiform, 3-septate ascospores, and strongly curved filiform conidia. It is the first species of the genus containing argopsin. The new species is compared with related Waynea species. Waynea cretica is recorded as new to the Iberian Peninsula.

New research on shell middens in the Algarve region of southern Portugal shows continuity of marine exploitation from the Mesolithic into the early Neolithic periods, where the Neolithic period is defined by the appearance of pottery in c 5500BC. The authors propose that either shellfish remained important to Neolithic people in Portugal or that Mesolithic and Neolithic subsistence strategies co-existed in this area for a relatively long time.