Content area
Full Text
INTRODUCTION
Coloration pattern in fish is a species-specific morphological trait that affects important ecological aspects such as con-specific communication and predator avoidance. However, colour abnormalities have been described (Mills & Patterson, 2009), including the total absence of pigmentation in skin and retina (true albinism) and the limited loss of it (partial albinism) (Venizelos & Benetti, 1999; Sandoval-Castillo et al., 2006; Veena et al., 2011).
Total and partial albinism have been reported in several species, including Chrondrichthyes (sharks, rays and ratfishes), such as the common torpedo Torpedo torpedo (Ben Brahim et al., 1998), the seal shark Dalatias licha (Bottaro et al., 2008), the spotted ratfish Hydrolagus colliei (Reum et al., 2008) or some rajid species Raja spp. (Ball et al., 2013); in Osteichthyes (bony fishes), such as the catfish Silurus glanis (Dingerkus et al., 1991) and the moray eel Muraena clepsydra (Béarez, 2002), among others. Moreover, albinism affects species of economic importance in aquaculture, particularly in Pleuronectiformes or flatfishes, such as Paralichthyidae (Estévez et al., 2001), Pleuronectidae (Aritaki & Tagawa, 2011) and Soleidae (Boglino et al., 2014).
In the present work, we report the first record of albinism in salema, Sarpa salpa (Linnaeus, 1785), in the Western Mediterranean.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The specimen was observed during a single snorkelling and free-diving survey in a shallow, sandy and rocky cove from Cabo de Palos (Murcia, Spain, 37°38'05.8''N 0°41'31.8''W) on 5 September 2014 at 9 a.m. A video of the albino salema within its school was recorded at a depth of 2 m using a compact camera with an underwater appliance (INTOVA, Model #IC-500). The raw capture rate was 24 frames per second of 640 × 480 pixels. A single frame was extracted as a JPEG static image.
Cabo de Palos is a cape located in south-east Spain and has a well-conserved Marine Protected Area (MPA) named Cabo de Palos-Islas Hormigas. However, the specimen was detected close to the MPA, but outside it, on a low-depth shore northward of the coastal zone of the cape.
RESULTS
The albino salema was recorded in a shallow area from Cabo de Palos, south-east Spain (Figure 1). Rocky boulders covered by algae (Jania spp. and Padina pavonica) were interspersed with patches...