Holocentrus adscensionis (Osbeck, 1765)

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 : 174

Holocentrus adscensionis (Osbeck, 1765)

A Squirrelfish, Holocentridae ( Fig. 4A ), was regularly observed by scuba-divers from Aug 2019 to Feb 2020 in the same shady cave at Cap d’Antibes (43.54°N, 7.11°E, Mediterranean Sea) at about 4 m depth. This individual measured about 20 cm TL. It was first recorded by L. Lombard, con- firmed by V. Raybaud and J.M. Cottalorda, and the taxonomic identification was done by M. Bariche on the basis of high-resolution pictures. This species is an addition to the “Checklist of the marine fishes from metropolitan France ” ( Béarez et al., 2017) and the present record is the second one for the Mediterranean Sea. Three years earlier, on 24 Aug 2016, a 301 mm TL individual was recorded from the eastern coast of Malta ( Vella et al., 2016). This reef-associated species is known from subtropical western and eastern Atlantic waters. No hypothesis is currently favoured to explain its presence in the Mediterranean: natural movement through the Strait of Gibraltar or introductions due to anthropogenic activities such as ballast water renewal or aquarium release.

Figures

Figure 4. – Significant French ichthyological records for 2019 (continued). A: Holocentrus adscensionis, ~20 cm TL, Aug 2019 (© L. Lombard); B: Nerophis lumbriciformis, ~10 cm TL, 26 Jan 2019; the black arrow indicates the head of the individual (© L. Bérenger); C: Scorpaena scrofa, 345 mm TL, 6-12 May 2019, MNHN-IC 2021-0143 (© S.P. Iglésias); D: Lepidotrigla dieuzeidei, 150 mm TL, 26 Oct 2019 (© S.P. Iglésias); E: Eutelichthys leptochirus, 63 mm TL, 30 May 2019, MNHN-IC 2021-0144 (© L. Metral); F: Liparis montagui, ~3 cm TL, 10 Jan 2019 (© J.P. Renoult); G: Mycteroperca rubra, ~20 cm TL, 25 Jul 2019 (© F. Beau); H: Serranus cabrilla, ~25 cm TL, 11 Oct 2019 (© F. Bernard).