Lagocephalus lagocephalus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Iglésias, Samuel P., Bariche, Michel, Beau, Florent, Bérenger, Lucas, Beucher, Renaud, Chabrolle, Antoine, Cottalorda, Jean-Michel, Cousin, Bertrand, Curd, Amelia, Danet, Valentin, Duhamel, Erwan, Duval, Audrey, Farque, Pierre-André, Goascoz, Nicolas, Jadaud, Angélique, Larnaud, Pascal, Bouter, Mathieu Le, Bras, Yvan Le, Bris, Sylvain Le, Lombard, Laurent, Louisy, Patrick, Mandine, Alain, Mas, Lise, Menut, Thomas, Metral, Luisa, Poussard, Pierre, Quéro, Jean-Claude, Raybaud, Virginie, Renoult, Julien P., Richard, Thomas, Spitz, Jérôme, Ternon, Quentin, Thiriet, Pierre & Tournier-Broer, Ruben, 2021, French ichthyological records for 2019, Cybium 45 (3), pp. 169-188 : 184

Lagocephalus lagocephalus (Linnaeus, 1758)

About seventy-seven Oceanic puffers, Tetraodontidae , were recorded from 15 Aug to 03 Sep 2019 by professional fishermen, sport fishermen or beachgoers ( Fig. 9 C-E; Tab. II). The individuals were collected in the Bay of Biscay, mostly in southern Brittany, by line, long-line, net or purse seine. A single specimen was found beached alive. They were collected in coastal waters less than 50 m depth. Several specimens have been kept alive in public aquariums from southern Brittany ( Oceanopolis in Brest , Aquashow in Audierne , Marinarium in Concarneau ) where they generally died after a few weeks. A specimen, ca. 34 cm TL, collected on 22 Aug and kept in the Marinarium died on 04 Oct 2019 and has been taxidermized with the collection No. MNHN-IC 2021-0156 . Many of these records were relayed by local media, often including erroneous information, mainly on the alleged exotic origin of the species. Recorded by A. Duval, P.A. Farque, S.P. Iglésias, P. Larnaud, Y. Le Bras & J. Spitz. Oceanic puffers are occasional visitors of the Bay of Biscay in the late warm season (Aug-Sep). They most probably use warm oceanic currents to migrate northward seasonally. The high number of records in 2019 appears exceptional. The increase in records of this species since the end of the 19 th century may be related to global warming ( Quéro et al., 2008a) .

Figures

Figure 9. – Significant French ichthyological records for 2019 (continued). A: Synapturichthys kleinii, ~20 cm TL, 10 Aug 2019 (© J.P. Renoult); B: S. kleinii, ~20 cm TL, 27 Oct 2019 (© S. Le Bris); C: Lagocephalus lagocephalus, ~30 cm TL, 15 Aug 2019 (© J.P. Brenneisen); D: L. lagocephalus, 23 Aug 2019 (© A. Le Breton); E: L. lagocephalus, ~34 cm TL, 22 Aug 2019, MNHN-IC 2021-0156 (© S.P. Iglésias); F: Mola mola, 595 mm TL, 25 Oct 2019, MNHN-IC 2021-0157 (© S.P. Iglésias).