The Smooth Pufferfish, Sphoeroides pachygaster (Müller & Troschel, 1848) (Teleostei: Tetraodontidae), new to the Northern Aegean Sea

In the Mediterranean, the Smooth Pufferfish Sphoeroides pachygaster (Müller and Troschel, 1848) is known from the Central and Western Mediterranean Sea (Sicily, Sardinia, Balearic Island and Spain) (TORTONESE 1986), south-eastern Aegean Sea (Greece) (ZACHARIOUMAMALINGA & CORSINI 1994) and the Levant (GOLANI 1996). We are reporting here a new record from the northern Aegean Sea. Two specimens of S. pachygaster were obtained: one was captured by bottom trawl hauls in October 1999 (see Fig. 1), at a depth of 180 m in Saros Bay; the other specimen was captured in May 2001, at a depth of 125 m 6 miles north-west off Bozcaada Island. The fish specimenes were preserved in 5% formaldehyde in sea water. Two specimens have been conserved in the Hydrobiological Museum of the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Istanbul University, catalogue no. 23700-576 and 23700-580. Description: Body partly compressed, inflatable. There are no scales and spines on the body containing one lateral line. Lips are papillose, it lacks pelvic fins. Dorsal and anal fins are single. Caudal fin is truncated. Meristic characters: Dorsal fin rays 9; anal fin rays 8; pectoral fin rays 14; caudal fin rays 11. The metric characters of both specimens are (in mm): total length Lt = 167/395; standard length Ls = 146/340, body depth 45/125, head length 54/116, preorbital distance 29/51, interorbital distance 25/54, eye width 12/25, eye height 10/16. Colour: Dorsal part of the body is brown, while the ventral is whitish. According to ESCHMEYER (1998), Sphoeroides cutaneus (Günther, 1870) reported by TORTONESE (1986), is a synonym of S. pachygaster. However, the record of S. cutaneus found for the first time in the Central and Eastern Mediterranean by AV AR & ÇIÇEK (1999) refers to Lagocephalus suezensis Clark & Gohar, 1953 according to BILECENO LU et al. (2002).