Occurrence of the Atlantic species, Pisodonophis semicinctus (Osteichthyes: Ophichthidae), along the Mediterranean coast

Abstract

Eight species of the snake eel family (Ophichthidae) can be found in the Mediterranean Sea (Bauchot, 1986). One of these species, Pisodonophis semicinctus (Richardson, 1848), is common in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, from Morocco to Angola (Froese and Pauly, 2012). It usually burrows on sandy and muddy bottoms in coastal waters at depths from 10 to 30 m (Bauchot, 1986) where it is often caught by beach fishing nets (Seret and Opic, 1990). P. semicinctus can grow up to 800 mm in total length (Seret and Opic, 1990). The species is rare outside the inter-tropical zone (Blache and Saldanha, 1972). Only two observations were recorded in the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean at the end of the 20th century: one individual was trawled in the Arcachon Basin (Quero, 1998), and another in 2001 along the south Galician coast near A Guarda harbour (Banon et al., 2002). P. semicinctus remained unknown among the Mediterranean fauna until a 1957 discovery in Algeria (Dieuziede and Roland, 1958). Since then, only nine other observations have been reported in the Mediterranean. The aim of this study was (i) to synthesize all records of Pisodonophis semicinctus in the Mediterranean Sea, including a previously unpublished record; and (ii) to discuss several hypotheses regarding the spread of P. semicinctus.