Lebetus sp.

Iglésias, Samuel P., Bergot, Patricia, Breton, Pascal, Brunelle, Stéphanie, Camusat, Mathieu, Causse, Romain, Charbonnel, Éric, Chevaldonné, Pierre, Cordier, Yves, Cosquer, Paul, Cuillandre, Jean-Pierre, Curd, Amelia, Dubas, Rémy, Duhau, Muriel, Derrien-Courtel, Sandrine, Devique, Gabriel, Dixneuf, Stéphane, Duhamel, Erwan, Farque, Pierre-André, Francour, Patrice, Fontana, Yann, Gamon, Adelaïde, Gicqueau, Charly, Goascoz, Nicolas, Hassani, Sami, Jadaud, Angélique, Kopp, Dorothée, Lamour, Laure, Bris, Sylvain Le, Lévèque, Laurent, Liger, Pablo, Lorance, Pascal, Louisy, Patrick, Maran, Vincent, Méhault, Sonia, Metral, Luisa, Morin-Repinçay, Alizée, Mouchel, Olivier, Pere, Anthony, Quéro, Jean-Claude, Renoult, Julien P., Roche, François, Schweyer, Livier, Spitz, Jérôme, Thiriet, Pierre & Thomas, Wilfried, 2020, French ichthyological records for 2018, Cybium 44 (4), pp. 285-307 : 300

Lebetus sp.

A goby of the genus Lebetus , Gobiidae ( Fig. 8A ), was collected on 6 Oct. 2018 during the research cruise CYLICE-ECO (Chief scientist: N. Le Bris) on the Research Vessel Europe, using the HROV Ariane. It was collected on a thanatocoenose of large bryozoans ( Turbicellepora sp. ) on a muddy ledge with the sponge Rhizaxinella pyrifera (Delle Chiaje, 1828) , in the Saint-Florent Canyon (Northwestern Corsica, France), at dive No. CYE8, at 42.7658°N, 9.2253°E, at 290 m depth. The specimen was 12 mm TL. When fresh, the specimen presented a pale brown colour without high contrast. The specimen was preserved with the collection No. MNHN-IC 2020-0098 and a tissue sample was preserved under No. BPS-4276. Recorded by P. Chevaldonné. The specimen is identified as Lebetus based on the presence of large scales on the body, about 25 on LL; an emarginated ventral disc without frenum, around 8 soft rays at D2, about 5 soft rays at A; a colour pattern typical of Lebetus particularly at caudal peduncle. Meristic counts fit to L. patzneri Schliewen, Kovačić & Ordines, 2019 , but do not exclude L. guilleti (Le Danois, 1913) , the dark D1 of the present juvenile specimen matches the description of L. patzneri but not the colour pattern of the body. The present record (290 m) is much deeper than the maximum depth known for L. patzneri (72 m) or for L. guilleti (67 m) ( Schliewen et al., 2019). Very deep records are only known for L. scorpioides , a species recorded in northern European waters down to 375 m depth. Collection of additional specimens from this area and DNA barcoding will be needed to confirm the species identification of this very small individual. It is the first record of Lebetus for Corsica and the Ligurian Sea ( Riolo and Betti, 2015).

Figures

Figure 8. – Significant French ichthyo- logical records for 2018 (continued). A: Lebetus sp., 12 mm TL, 6 Oct. 2018, MNHN-IC 2020-0098; B: Speleogobius trigloides, ~3 cm TL, 4 Aug. 2018 (reversed photograph); C: Thorogobius macrolepis, ~6 cm TL, 13 Apr. 2018 (reversed photograph); D: Thorogobius macrolepis, ~5 cm TL, 16 Jun. 2018; E: Vanneaugobius dollfusi, ~6 cm TL, 7 Apr. 2018; (reversed photograph); F: Vanneaugobius dollfusi, ~4 cm TL, 30 Sep. 2018; G: Lepidocybium flavo- brunneum, ~1.5-2 m TL; 4 Oct. 2018; H: Hyperoglyphe sp., ~35-40 cm TL, 11 Jun. 2018 (landed); I: Pegusa cf. nasuta, ~7 cm TL; 18 Oct. 2018.