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<I>Sphoeroides Pachygaster</I> (Tetraodontidae

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<I>Sphoeroides Pachygaster</I> (Tetraodontidae BULLETIN OF MARINE SCIENCE, 70(1): 133–139, 2002 NORTHERNMOST OCCURRENCE OF SPHOEROIDES PACHYGASTER (TETRAODONTIDAE) IN THE ADRIATIC SEA Jakov Dulãiç ABSTRACT A juvenile specimen of pufferfish, Sphoeroides pachygaster (Müller & Troschel, 1848), was captured off Cape Kamenjak (peninsula Istra, northern Adriatic) and represents the northernmost report in the Adriatic Sea and whole Mediterranean area. The infrequent occurrences of fishes with tropical and subtropical affinities in these regions are also discussed. Pufferfish, Sphoeroides pachygaster (Müller & Troschel, 1848), is a widely distributed species. It has, so far, been recorded from the tropical and subtropical Atlantic, including the Mediterranean, near Japan, Hawaii and Australia (Tortonese, 1986). In the western Atlantic is found from New Jersey to Argentina (Matsuura, 1983). Body slightly com- pressed; head big and wide, and scarcely distinguishable from body; eye relatively big and oval; gill slit running vertical downward just at the base of the pectoral fin; dorsal fin small and posterior; ventral fins absent; mouth very small and terminal; beak-like teeth; skin finely striated and smooth with no prickles and spines. Body olive-grey with dark spots, ventral sides whitish. Up to 45.5 cm in total length (Ragonese et al., 1997). One specimen of the pufferfish was captured in a trawl catch collected in the northern Adriatic (near peninsula Istra) on November 1998, in a region substantially further north than their previous record areas. This capture represent the northernmost record for the species in the Adriatic Sea, and in the whole Mediterranean area. MATERIALS AND METHODS On 8 November 1998 one specimen of S. pachygaster was caught with trawl nets (lasting about 2 h) at a depth of about 45 m about 2 km southwest off the Cape Kamenjak (44∞43'N,14∞00'E, Istra peninsula-northern Adriatic). The specimen was identified in accordance with Jardas (1996). It was embalmed and deposited in the private collection of professional fisherman Gino Capin (settlement Tar, Istra peninsula, Croatia). The specimen was identified as an immature female by macroscopic inspection of gonads, for morphometric data a board rule and a clock calliper (0.1 mm) were used. Meristic counts were also recorded and compared with other reports from the Adriaic Sea (Jardas and Pallaoro, 1996). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Morphometric and meristic data are given in Table 1. Standard counts and measure- ments fit previous descriptions of the species, such as in Jardas and Pallaoro (1996). Gut contents showed fragments of squid and octopus and sediment wrapped in mucous, this agrees with Bedini (1998) and Smith and Heemstra (1991). The first record in the Mediterranean was in the Balearic Islands in 1979 by Oliver (1981). That record added a new genus 133 134 BULLETIN OF MARINE SCIENCE, VOL. 70, NO. 1, 2002 Table 1. Absolute values of morphometric (in mm) and meristic characters of analyzed specimen (female) of the species Sphoeroides pachygaster from the northern Adriatic and comparison to other specimens caught in the Adriatic Sea. Peresent specimen Specimens from th Adriatic (Jardas and Pallaoro, 1996) Morphometric characters T0otal length (TL) 1025. 101. -213.0 S0tandard length (SL) 1302. 86. -182.0 H5ead length (HL) 492. 37. -78.0 H8ead width (HW) 360. 21. -47.0 H0ead height (HH) 278. 22. -44.0 Eye diameter (max) (Omax)590. 9. -15.0 Eye diameter (min) (Omin)159. 4. -11.0 I7nterorbital space (Io) 220. 15. -31.0 S0nout length (SnL) 188. 16. -35.0 P2ostorbital length ((PoL) 115. 12. -33.0 Width of pedunculum (Tmin)462. 6. -12.5 W9idth of gill opening (GO) 92. 8. -14.0 P9redorsal length 810. 68. -138.0 P0repectoral length 424. 38. -83.0 P3reanal length 817. 76. -130.0 P4recaudal length 919. 85. -176.0 D1orsal fin length 191. 10. -19.3 P7ectoral fin length 145. 14. -25.0 A4nal fin length 122. 9. -19.0 C4audal fin length 201. 16. -37.0 Morphometric relationship S4L/HL 28. 2.2 -2.65 H8L/HW 19.3 0.9 -1.75 H2L/HH 13.5 1.5 -1.77 SnL/Omax 17.9 1.8 -2.33 SnL/Omin 3-.53 HL/ Omax 41.47 4.2 -5.20 GO/ Omax 11.04 0.9 -1.05 T4L/HL 27.9 2.6 -3.13 T6L/HH 44.4 4.3 -4.84 H6H/SnL 1-.5 Meristic characters G3ill rakers (1st branchial arch) 1 D88orsal fin soft rays A88nal fin soft rays -9 P3ectoral fin soft rays 131 -14 C1audal fin soft rays 1- Sphoeroides to the Mediterranean Tetraodontidae family, apart from the two earlier known (Ephipion and Lagocephalus). Thereafter there were new reports: off Mallorca (Moreno and Roca, 1984), Catalonia (Cerro and Portas, 1984), Sicilian channel and the Gulf of Cagliari in the south of Sardinia (Vacchi and Cau, 1985, 1986), off Gibraltar DULâIå: SPHOEROIDES PACHYGASTER IN THE ADRIATIC SEA 135 (Ceuta) and near Almeira in the south of Spain (Crespo et al., 1986), Ligurian Sea (Barletta and Torchio, 1986; Fiorentino and Zamboni, 1990), Alboran Sea (Caminas et al., 1990), from a wide area of the Sicilian channel as far as Tripoli (Ragonese et al., 1992), Ionian Sea (Tursi et al., 1992), Gulf of Gabës (Bradai et al., 1993), southern (Arcuelo et al., 1994) and northern Tyrrhenian Sea (Bedini, 1998), and eastern Mediterranean (Golani, 1996; Avsar and Cicek, 1999). This primarily Atlantic species is now spreading in the Mediterranean Sea. Since 1979 first report until now it has been recorded from the south-western part and the north- eastern part of the basin. Ragonese et al. (1992) mentioned possible ‘explosive spread- ing’ of this species into the central Mediterranean based on the numerous new records from the Sicilian channel to as far as Tripoli and from some northern and north-eastern Mediterranean parts. Oliver (1981) stated that pufferfish penetrated from the straits of Gibraltar. Bedini (1998) endorsed that hypothesis for no reports of pufferfish in the east- ern Mediterranean basin and on the homogeneity of morphometric and meristic data be- tween Atlantic and Mediterranean specimens (Vacchi and Cau, 1986). This statement should be taken with cautious since comparison is based only on mean values derived from few specimens. Available information emphasise the general opinion which con- siders pufferfish a recent immigrant, probably undergoing a fast diffusion eastwards (Ragonese et al., 1992), even though Relini and Orsi-Relini (1995) speculated on the possibility of a previous presence of the species within the Mediterranean on the basis of very old ichthyological illustrations. Some review studies have shown that fish consid- ered to be ‘neocolonisers’ actually belong to the usual Mediterranean faunal group. This is so for the S. pachygaster already noted by Salviani (1558) as reported by Relini and Orsi-Relini (1995) and Quignard and Tomasini (2000). Given the circumglobal distribu- tion of the species, the hypothesis of a joint intrusion through the Gibraltar Straits and Suez Channel was proposed by Relini and Orsi-Relini (1995). The ‘lessepsian migration’ (Golani, 1998), if any, has been unsuccessful, given the huge discrepancy in reporting the pufferfish between the western and eastern Mediterranean basins. No record however existed for the eastern Mediterranean until 1991, when some specimens of pufferfish were caught in Israel waters and near the island of Symi in Turkey (Golani, 1996). In recent years, the number of alien fish species migrating to the Mediterranean Sea has been increasing rapidly (Zibrowius, 1991). Many of these migrate from the Red Sea through the Suez Canal (lessepsian migration) (Por, 1978; Golani, 1998). Immigration of Atlantic fish through the Strait of Gibraltar, the main connection between the Mediterra- nean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, is increasing also (Lusitanic region) (Maurin, 1968). Thus far, 25 such new alien Atlantic species have been recorded in the Mediterranean Sea (Andaloro and Rinaldi, 1998). One of the hypothesis for such migrating is that this spe- cies has voluntarly entered the Mediteranean through the Strait of Gibraltar, as had been the case with many other extra-Mediterranean species in the last 30 yrs (the phenomenon known as tropicalization of the Mediterranean) due to the generally heating of the seas. Bethoux et al. (1990) and Bethoux and Gentile (1995) reported about the warming of the Mediterranean Sea has been in progress. Some investigators speculated (Oliver, 1981; Arcuelo and Riggio, 1994) on the recent increase in imports via Gibraltar. These imports would’be suported by an increase in water flux through the strait and hydroclimatic modi- fications in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean and it should be noted that these newly immigrants mostly occupy the circalittoral and bathyal zones, as the Mediterra- nean species’‘new to science’ (Quignard and Tomasini, 2000). In Mediterranean Sea oth- 136 BULLETIN OF MARINE SCIENCE, VOL. 70, NO. 1, 2002 Figure 1. Records of Sphoeroides pachygaster (Müller and Troschel, 1848) in the Adriatic Sea following Bello (1993), 1–3, Jardas and Pallaoro (1996), 4–6, and present note, 7. ers phenomenon of autochthonous ichthyc fauna distribution changing are in coming moved probably by thermal change. Andaloro and Rinaldi (1998) noted about Balearic Island ichthyc fauna meridionalisation phenomenon where in the last years virtually dis- appear some species as Scyliorhinus stellaris, Squatina spp. and Argyrosomus regius, other species increased their biomass (Sphoeroides pachygaster, parablennius pilicornis, Scartella cristata and Diplodus cervinus) while appears new species coming from Afri- can continental shelf as Epinephelus aeneus, Lobotes surinamensis and Caranx rhon- chus. Bello (1993) reported the presence of S. pachygaster for the first time in the Adriatic Sea on three fishing sites: Bari (some specimens), in the central Adriatic (at depth be- tween 30 and 130 m, many specimens) and off Albanian coast (at 85 m, 1 specimen) (Fig. 1 locations 1,2,3).
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