Pterycombus brama Fries, 1837

González-Lorenzo, Gustavo, González-Jiménez, José F., Brito, Alberto & González, José A., 2013, The family Bramidae (Perciformes) from the Canary Islands (Northeastern Atlantic Ocean), with three new records, Cybium 37 (4), pp. 295-303 : 297-298

Pterycombus brama Fries, 1837

Material examined. - TFMC-VP /01919, 1 spm, 426 mm

TL, 328 mm SL, off Punta de la Entallada, Fuerteventura, 28°14’N 13°50’W, 450-500 m, 30 Mar. 2009, on a HL in the artisanal fishery for alfonsinos Beryx spp.

Remarks. - A pelagic oceanic species inhabiting Atlantic temperate and tropical waters from 67°N to 1°S and from 98°W to 36°E (e.g. McEachran and Fechhelm, 2005; Froese and Pauly, 2013), between 25 and 400 m of depth ( Muus and Nielsen, 1999). In the East Atlantic Ocean, it has been recorded from Norway and Iceland ( Jonsson, 1992) to South of the Cap Lopez, West of Mayumba (Gulf of Guinea) ( Gomes, 1990), including the coasts of Sweden, British Isles and NW Spain (e.g. Mead, 1972; Bañón et al., 2010; Froese and Pauly, 2013). The Mediterranean record – with no locality or bibliographic reference – by Carvalho-Filho et al. (2009) [these authors took this record from Scott and Scott (1988)] needs further confirmation. It is a seasonal migrant ( Haedrich, 1986).

This is the first record for this amphi-Atlantic species from the Canary Islands. The present material was collected between 450 and 500 m of depth. Apart from the voucher specimen, at least two more individuals were caught and photographed at this locality – the Canary coast nearest to the African continent – at 500-600 m. These findings enlarge the vertical distribution range of this species within the mesopelagic community .

Selected body proportions and meristics of the material studied are shown in table I and compared with Mead (1972) data taken from other adult specimens of the same species and from P. petersii . The Canarian specimen agrees in almost all respects with the comparative material. The only major difference found was in the pre-anal length, 27.7% SL in the Canarian material vs 34.6-40.4% for P. brama and 32.1- 35.1% for P. petersii from other areas ( Tab. I). In our specimen, the longest dorsal ray is 34.8% in SL, which agrees with the range given for P. brama (22.4-39.4%) but differs from P. petersii (41.4-63.5%) ( Tab. I). Carvalho-Filho et al. (2009) pointed out that values over 50% in SL differentiate juvenile of P. brama from P. petersii .