New record of Scomberesox scombroides (Richardson, 1843) (Beloniformes: Scomberesocidae) in southwestern waters of Patagonia and an update on its geographic distribution on the Argentine continental shelf

BOVCON, N.D.; COCHIA, P.D.; RUIBAL-NÚÑEZ, J.; ROMERO, J.J.; GÓNGORA, M.E.

JOURNAL OF APPLIED ICHTHYOLOGY-ZEITSCHRIFT FUR ANGEWANDTE ICHTHYOLOGIE

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Año: 2016 vol. 32 p. 1239 - 1242

0175-8659

Scomberesox scombroides (Richardson, 1843) is found in the Pacific Ocean from New Zealand to the coast of Chile; and in the Atlantic Ocean from Namibia to South Africa, continuing its distribution westward between 30°S and 40°S (Hubbs & Wisner, 1980). This species belongs to an epipelagic group of fishes that inhabit the homogeneous surface layer of the pelagial in the open sea at all stages of its life cycle (Parin, 1968), with a distribution determined mainly by the circulation features of the surface waters (Parin & Beklemishev, 1966). In the Atlantic Ocean, S. scombroides is fairly numerous and distributed in thesubtropical and moderately warm waters of its northern and southern parts wihere temperature ranges vary from 10° to 20°C (Dudnik, 1975). The distribution of S. scombroides in the Southwest Atlantic is based on reports of isolated specimens in the open ocean off the coasts of Uruguay and Argentina (Devincenzi, 1924; Parin, 1968). Records in the literature are scarce; in the Argentinean Sea this species was first recorded by López (1957) in waters off Buenos Aires province(38°S?58°W). In the present study, the finding of a single specimen of S. scombroides constitutes the first southernmost report in waters off the coast of Patagonia in the Southwest Atlantic, expanding the knowledge of this species? distribution southward.