Taractes asper Lowe, 1843

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 : 298-299

Taractes asper Lowe, 1843

Material examined. - TFMCBMVP/1936, 1 spm, 285 mm

TL, 228 mm SL, El Río, La Palma, 28°31’N 17°44’W, 450 m, 12 Jun. 2012, on a BLL in the artisanal fishery for alfonsinos Beryx spp.

Remarks. - A pelagic oceanic species inhabiting circumglobal tropical to temperate waters at 72°N- 35°S, 180°W- 180°E, between 1 and 140 m of depth ( Mundy, 2005; Froese and Pauly, 2013). In the Eastern Atlantic Ocean it is known from Northern Norway and Iceland to Madeira, including the coasts of Germany, British Isles and NW of Spain, to Cape Province, South Africa (e.g. Mead and Maul, 1958; Mead, 1972; Haedrich, 1986; Smith, 2003; Bañón et al., 2010). It is a highly migratory species ( Froese and Pauly, 2013).

According to Thompson and Russell (1996), this species and T. rubescens are sympatric, the latter species preferring higher latitudes.

This is the first record for this rare and widespread species from the Canary Islands. The present material was caught at a depth of 450, which enlarges considerably its vertical range extending its habitat from the epi- to the mesopelagic community .

Selected body proportions and meristics of the material studied are shown in table II and compared with data available from literature. The Canarian specimen agrees in almost all respects with Mead (1972) and Thompson and Russell (1996) specimens, except for some minor differences in the pre-anal, pre-pelvic, and caudal peduncle lengths (Tab. II). The small size of our specimen may eventually explain these discrepancies. Mead (1972) pointed out that changes accompanying growth between 169 and 300 mm SL include the transformation of a truncate caudal fin to a concave one, the formation of anterior lobes in the dorsal and anal fins, a relative shortening of the paired fins and the further posterior displacement of the ventral fin, among others.