Gaidropsarus granti from a Ligurian seamount: a Mediterranean native species?
In: Marine Ecology (Berlin). Blackwell: Berlin. ISSN 0173-9565; e-ISSN 1439-0485, more Also appears in:Wilkinson, M. (Ed.) (2014). EMBS 45: European Marine Biology Symposium, 23-27 August 2010, Herriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. European Marine Biology Symposia, 45. Marine Ecology (Berlin), 35(Suppl. 1). III, 110 pp., more | |
Keywords | Gadidae Rafinesque, 1810 [WoRMS]; Gaidropsarus granti (Regan, 1903) [WoRMS] Marine/Coastal | Author keywords | Deep rocky substrata; Gadidae; Gaidropsarus granti ; Ligurian Sea |
Abstract | Two specimens of the Azorean rockling Gaidropsarus granti (Regan 1903) were caught in the period August 1989–January 1990 on a seamount located about 29 nautical miles south of Genoa, Ligurian Sea. The records remained unpublished because of errors in the literature concerning the two Macaronesian species Gaidropsarus granti and Gaidropsarus guttatus. Old and recent records of G. granti are now used to characterize morphological and ecological traits of this species. In particular, G. granti is unmistakably adapted to a sedentary life on hard substrata, and all records occurred in offshore slope waters, frequently on banks and seamounts. Ecological characteristics and biogeographical considerations are introduced in the discussion about the origin of the Mediterranean records of G. granti, specifically whether this fish should be considered an introduced or a native species. |
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