Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Type: Article
Published: 2026-03-11
Page range: 427-434
Abstract views: 31
PDF downloaded: 1

On a record of Taractes rubescens (Teleostei: Scombriformes: Bramidae) from the Mediterranean Sea

Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn; Sicily Marine Centre; Department of Integrative Marine Ecology; Messina; Italy
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn; Sicily Marine Centre; Department of Integrative Marine Ecology; Messina; Italy
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn; Sicily Marine Centre; Department of Ecosustainable Marine Biotechnology; Messina; Italy
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn; Sicily Marine Centre; Department of Ecosustainable Marine Biotechnology; Messina; Italy
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn; CRIMAC Calabria Marine Centre; Department of Integrative Marine Ecology; Amendolara; Italy
Pisces Keeltail pomfret ichthyology taxonomy morphology genetics distribution

Abstract

Here we report the second record of the keeltail pomfret Taractes rubescens (Jordan & Evermann) in the Mediterranean Sea, providing new morphological and genetic data on this rare species in the basin. The use of an integrated taxonomic approach is essential for documenting biodiversity in the Mediterranean Sea, particularly in light of ongoing environmental changes; in our case, it unambiguously identified the species as T. rubescens. The specimen was a maturing male measuring 842 mm TL and weighing 8.721 kg. All meristic counts and proportional morphometric measurements of T. rubescens based on the present specimen agreed with ranges reported by other authors. Data on this species from the Mediterranean Sea remain scarce, and further records are needed to better understand its abundance, distribution and origin.

 

References

  1. Carvalho-Filho, A., Marcovaldi, G., Sampaio, C.L.S., Paiva, M.I.G. & Duarte, L.A.G. (2009) First report of rare pomfrets (Teleostei: Bramidae) from Brazilian waters, with a key to Western Atlantic species. Zootaxa, 2290 (1), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.2290.1.1
  2. Carlton, J.T. (1996) Biological Invasions and Cryptogenic Species. Ecology, 77 (6), 1653–1655. https://doi.org/10.2307/2265767
  3. Evans, J., Arndt, E. & Schembri, P.J. (2020) Atlantic fishes in the Mediterranean: using biological traits to assess the origin of newcomer fishes. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 643, 133–143. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13353
  4. FAO (2022) The State of Mediterranean and Black Sea Fisheries 2023. Special Edition. General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean, Rome, 52 pp. https://doi.org/10.4060/cc8888en
  5. Fiorentino, F., Massi, D. & Zava, B. (2016) New arrival of a circumtropical species in the Mediterranean: the Keeltail pomfret Taractes rubescens (Jordan & Evermann, 1887) (Pisces: Bramidae). Mediterranean Marine Science, 17 (1), 230–252. https://doi.org/10.12681/mms.1684
  6. Fischer, W., Bauchot, M.L. & Schneider, M. (1987) Fiches FAO d’identification des espéces pour les besoins de la pêche. (Révision 1). Méditerranée et mer Noire. Zone de pêche 37. Vol. 2. Vertébrés. FAO, Rome, 1529 pp.
  7. Fricke, R., Eschmeyer, W.N. & Van der Laan, R. (Eds.) (2025) Eschmeyer’s catalog of fishes: genera, species, references. Available from: https://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/fishcatmain.asp (accessed 4 November 2025)
  8. Froese, R. & Pauly, D. (Eds.) (2025) FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. Available from: https://www.fishbase.org (accessed 4 November 2025)
  9. Galanidi, M., Aissi, M., Ali, M., Bakalem, A., Bariche, M., Bartolo, A.G., Bazairi, H., Beqiraj, S., Bilecenoglu, M., Bitar, G., Bugeja, M., Carbonell, A., Castriota, L., Chalabi, A., Çinar, M.E., Dragičević, B., Dulčić, J., El-Haweet, A.E.A., Farrag, M.M.S., Evans, J., Galil, B., Guerin, L., Hyams-Kaphzan, O., Kapedani, R., Kamberi, E., Livi, S., Mačić, V., Masse, C., Mavrič, B., Orlando-Bonaca, M., Ouerghi, A., Petović, S., Png-Gonzalez, L., Schembri, P.J., Shenkar, N., Sghaier, Esmail Shakman Y.R., Yahyaoui, A., Yokeş, M.B. & Zenetos, A. (2023) Validated Inventories of Non-Indigenous Species (NIS) for the Mediterranean Sea as Tools for Regional Policy and Patterns of NIS Spread. Diversity, 15 (9), 1–962. https://doi.org/10.3390/d15090962
  10. González-Lorenzo, G., González-Jiménez, J.F., Brito, A. & González, J.A. (2013) The family Bramidae (Perciformes) from the Canary Islands (Northeastern Atlantic Ocean), with three new records. Cybium, 37 (4), 295–303. https://doi.org/10.26028/CYBIUM/2013-374-010
  11. Haedrich, R.L. (2016) Bramidae. In: Carpenter, K.E. & De Angelis, N. (Eds.), The living marine resources of the Eastern Central Atlantic. Vol. 4. Bony Fishes. Part 2. (Perciformes to Tetraodontiformes) and Sea turtles. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes. FAO, Rome, pp. 1654–1666.
  12. Holden, M.J. & Raitt, D.F.S. (1974) Manual of fisheries science. Part 2. Methods of resource investigation and their application. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper No. 115. FAO, Rome, 255 pp.
  13. Huelsenbeck, J.P. & Ronquist, F. (2001) MRBAYES: Bayesian inference of phylogenetic trees. Bioinformatics, 17 (8), 754–755. https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/17.8.754
  14. Kindong, R., Gao, C., Pandong, N.A., Ma, Q., Tian, S., Wu, F. & Sarr, O. (2020) Stock status assessments of five small pelagic species in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans using the length-based Bayesian estimation (LBB) method. Frontiers in Marine Science, 7, 592082. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.592082
  15. Jawad, L.A., AlMamry, J.M. & AlBusaidi, H.K. (2014) New Record of the Keeltail Pomfret, Taractes rubescens (Jordan & Evermann, 1887) (Perciformes: Bramidae) from the Sea of Oman. International Journal of Marine Science, 4, 227–230. https://doi.org/10.5376/ijms.2014.04.0025
  16. Jordan, D.S. & Evermann, B.W. (1887) Description of six new species of fishes from the Gulf of Mexico, with notes on other species. Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 9 (586), 466–476. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.00963801.9-586.466
  17. Lee, J.H., Lee, W.J. & Kim, J.K. (2019) First reliable record of the Keeltail Pomfret Taractes rubescens (Bramidae, Perciformes) from Korea. Korean Journal of Ichthyology, 52 (3), 283–287. https://doi.org/10.5657/KFAS.2019.0283
  18. Letunic, I. & Bork, P. (2024) Interactive Tree of Life (iTOL) v6: Recent updates to the phylogenetic tree display and annotation tool. Nucleic Acids Research, 52 (1), 78–82. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkae268
  19. Marrone, A., Deidun, A., Corsini-Foka, M., Zava, B., Tinto, E., Rizzo, C. & Battaglia, P. (2025) First Record of Sepioteuthis lessoniana from the Maltese Archipelago, with Further Notes on Its Occurrence in the Central Mediterranean Sea. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 13 (9), 1783. https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse13091783
  20. Moullec, F., Barrier, N., Drira, S., Guilhaumon, F., Marsaleix, P., Somot, S., Ulses, C., Velez, L. & Shin, Y.J. (2019) An end-to-end model reveals losers and winners in a warming Mediterranean Sea. Frontiers in Marine Science, 6, 345. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00345
  21. Perzia, P., Cillari, T., Crociata, G., Deidun, A., Falautano, M., Franzitta, G., Galdies, J., Maggio, T., Vivona, P. & Castriota, L. (2023) Using Local Ecological Knowledge to Search for Non-Native Species in Natura 2000 Sites in the Central Mediterranean Sea: An Approach to Identify New Arrivals and Hotspot Areas. Biology, 12 (9), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.3390/biology12091158
  22. Puentes, V., Rubio, E.A. & Zapata, L.A. (2001) Nota: Primer registro del género Taractes (Pisces: Bramidae) en el Oceano Pacífico colombiano. Boletín de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras, 30, 207–212. https://doi.org/10.25268/BIMC.INVEMAR.2001.30.0.306
  23. Ray, D., Mohapatra, A. & Mohanty, S.R. (2018) First report on occurrence of a rare fish, Keeltail Pomfret: Taractes rubescens (Jordan and Evermann, 1887) from Northern part of East coast of India. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, 194–197. https://doi.org/10.26515/RZSI/V118/I2/2018/129067
  24. Roul, S.K., Retheesh, T.B., Akhil, A.R., Prakasan, D., Ganga, U., Abdussamad, E.M. & Rohit, P. (2018) First Record of the Keeltail Pomfret Taractes rubescens (Jordan & Evermann, 1887) (Teleostei: Perciformes: Bramidae) from the South-Eastern Arabian Sea. Thalassas, 34 (1), 87–92. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41208-017-0041-2
  25. Thompson, J.D., Higgins, D.G. & Gibson, T.J. (1994) CLUSTAL W: Improving the sensitivity of progressive multiple sequence alignment through sequence weighting, position-specific gap penalties and weight matrix choice. Nucleic Acids Research, 22 (22), 4673–4680. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/22.22.4673
  26. Thompson, B. & Russell, S. (1996) Pomfrets (family Bramidae) of the Gulf of Mexico and nearby waters. Publicaciones Especiales del Instituto Español de Oceanografía, 21, 185–198.
  27. Ward, R.D., Zemlak, T.S., Innes, B.H., Last, P.R. & Hebert, P.D.N. (2005) DNA barcoding Australia’s fish species. Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences, 360 (1462), 1847–1857. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2005.1716

How to Cite

Consoli, P., Battaglia, P., Tinto, E., Rizzo, C. & Greco, S. (2026) On a record of Taractes rubescens (Teleostei: Scombriformes: Bramidae) from the Mediterranean Sea. Zootaxa, 5768 (3), 427–434. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5768.3.9