Northernmost records of Pagrus auriga (Actinopterygii: Perciformes: Sparidae) and Pomadasys incisus (Actinopterygii: Perciformes: Haemulidae) in the eastern Atlantic

Abstract

Pagrus auriga Valenciennes, 1843 (Sparidae), and the bastard grunt, Pomadasys incisus (Bowdich, 1825) (Haemulidae), were caught in Galician waters (NW Spain) by spear fishermen (Fig. 1). The aim of this note was to describe the unusual records of these two southern species found in Galician coastal waters. Pagrus auriga is a demersal marine fish inhabiting various types of sea bottom, especially rocky bottoms, from the shore to depths of about 170 m (the closer to the shore the specimens are younger). It is distributed along the eastern Atlantic Ocean, from Portugal to Angola, and around the Madeira, Canary Islands, and Cape Verde Islands. It is also found throughout the Mediterranean Sea, but is very rare along the northern shores of this sea (Bauchot and Hureau 1986, 1990). Pomadasys incisus is a coastal demersal species inhabiting marine and brackish waters, usually near sandy or muddy substrates, at depths ranging from 10 to 100 m but most often around 50 m (Kapiris et al. 2008). It is distributed along the eastern Atlantic Ocean, from Portugal to Angola, and in South Africa, around the Azores, Canary Islands, and Cape Verde Islands, as well as in the Mediterranean Sea (Bodilis et al. 2013). ACTA ICHTHYOLOGICA ET PISCATORIA (2014) 44 (4): 323–327 DOI: 10.3750/AIP2014.44.4.07