What canal gives its name to Lessepsian migration of marine species?

The Suez Canal gives its name to Lessepsian migration, the movement of marine species through the canal, usually from the Red Sea into the Mediterranean Sea. The term is also called Erythrean invasion.

The canal was completed in 1869 across Egypt’s Isthmus of Suez, creating an artificial marine connection between two ecosystems that had previously been separated by land. Fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms could then pass between them. The migration is named after Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French diplomat who led the canal-building project—not after a species or a place called Lessepsia.

Most movement has historically been south-to-north, from the Red Sea toward the Mediterranean, though movement in the opposite direction also occurs. The phenomenon matters because incoming species can alter food webs, fisheries and native biodiversity. The canal’s later expansion increased concern that wider or easier passage could accelerate biological exchange.