NEW RECORDS OF BREGMACEROS ATLANTICUS (BREGMACEROTIDAE), ECHIODON DENTATUS (CARAPIDAE) AND NEMICHTHYS SCOLOPACEUS (NEMICHTHYIDAE) FROM THE AEGEAN SEA

Three fish species, Bregmaceros atlanticus Goode et Bean, 1886 (Bregmacerotidae), Echiodon dentatus (Cuvier, 1829) (Carapidae), and Nemichthys scolopaceus Richardson, 1848 (Nemichthyidae) were recorded in the Sığacık and Kuşadası Bays (Eastern Aegean Sea, Turkey). B. atlanticus and E. dentatus constitute new records for the Turkish waters and the Aegean Sea, respectively. The finding of Nemichthys scolopaceus is the second record for the Aegean Sea.

and 550 HP), at the depth range of 150 and 600 m, off Sığacık Bay (southern Aegean Sea, Turkey, Fig. 3). Additionally, during a study on the some biological aspects of horse mackerel, Trachurus trachurus (L., 1758), inhabiting Kuşadası Bay (Fig. 3), one specimen of B. atlanticus (Fig. 4) was obtained from one stomach sample. The T. trachurus specimen (23.0 cm TL and 101.59 g total weight) was caught in day time (1430 h).
The fishes were fixed in 4% formalin and preserved at the Museum of the Faculty of Fisheries, Ege University (ESFM). Measurements were carried out to the nearest 0.1 mm by a calliper and meristic counts were made under the reflected light of a stereomicroscope. Taxonomic keys of Cohen (1986), Nielsen (1986), Cohen et al. (1990), and Nielsen et al. (1999) were used to identify the specimens. The nomenclature followed that of the FishBase (Froese and Pauly 2006). Brief description of specimen: Specimen with single, very long, dorsal ray above head and dorsal fin with 52 rays (Fig. 4). Anal fin with 53 rays. Pectoral fin with 16 rays. 5th-6th anal and dorsal rays being longest. Origin of dorsal fin above insertion of anal fin. (Specimen examined was damaged and lost most of its scales and pigmentation. Selected proportions are presented and compared with previous records in Table 1 Table 2. Brief description of specimen: Body extremely long, with caudal fin ending as filament (Fig. 1). Anus located below pectoral fins. Dorsal-, caudal-, and anal fins confluent; base of dorsal fin rays at midbody, strong and spinelike (Fig. 1). Non-tubular anterior nostril indicating unripe female specimen (Fig. 1). Dorsal fin origin located in front of pectoral fins, close to nape. Several irregular rows of pores on head: preopercular pores 9, suborbital pores 16, and postorbital pores 11. Jaws with several small acute teeth, directed posteriorly. Teeth almost equal in size in lower jaw. Some larger teeth located on midline of upper jaw, with largest ones below anterior nostril origin. Body pigmented on whole, but clearly darker below lateral line. Bases of dorsal and anal fins dusky. Selected proportions are presented and compared with previous records in Table 3.

Bregmaceros atlanticus
In the western Mediterranean, B. atlanticus was first mentioned from the Straits of Sicily (D'Ancona and Cavinato 1965), however, Goren and Galil (2006) and Torii et al. (2003) implied that this record was doubtful.   Table 1 Morphometric and meristic parameters of Bregmaceros atlanticus SL, standard length; Sn-A, snout to anal fin; Sn-PEL, snout to pelvic fins; Sn-D, snout to first dorsal fin; HL, head length; SnL, snout length; ED, eye diameter; MBD, maximum body depth; ID, interorbital distance; Sn-PEC, snout to pectoral fins; D, dorsal ray count; A, anal ray count; P, pectoral ray count; C, caudal ray count; (for Goren and Galil's (2006) data range is given and mean in parenthesis).

Parameter
Present study Trott and Olney (1986) MBD   Yılmaz et al. (2004) found two specimens in the stomach of a brushtooth lizardfish, Saurida undosquamis (Richardson, 1848), collected at a depth of ca. 30 m in Antalya Bay (southern Turkey). Finally, Goren and Galil (2006) reported four specimens from the cost of Israel. Although it is reported that most bregmacerotid species small epipelagic or mesopelagic fishes living in tropical and subtropical oceanic waters to depth of over 1000 m, some are found in shallow coastal areas and even in estuaries (Cohen et al. 1990). Also, it is noted that some of them apparently carried out diurnal vertical migrations (Cohen 1986). Although the depth range within which B. atlanticus occurs is unknown, its occurrence in the horse mackerel in this study and in the lizardfish stomach (Yılmaz et al. 2004), may confirm that its occurrence in shallow waters.
In the western Mediterranean, E. dentatus was captured from Balearic basin by Massuti et al. (2004). It is also known that this species has occurred in eastern Mediterranean in Ionian Sea (Gulf of Corinth), Malta-Crete, Sardinia-Messina Strait since 1930 (Anonymous 2001). In addition, Ondrias (1971) and Papaconstantinou and Tsimenides (1979) reported this species from Aegean Sea in Naxos Island and Thermaikos Gulf, respectively. In addition, to the best of our knowledge, our specimen's total length is the longest record that has been reported. Bilecenoğlu et al. (2002) cited E. dentatus as questionably present in Turkish waters since the report of Akşıray (1987) was dubious and not substantiated.
In the western Mediterranean, N. scolopaceus is already mentioned in the Ligurian Sea, off Algerian and northern Sicilian coasts (Relini-Orsi and Relini 1973), also in the Strait of Messina (Berdar et al. 1977), in southern Sardinian waters (Cau 1979), and in the eastern Ionian Sea (Mytilineou et al. 2005). A recent record was given by Bilecenoğlu et al. (2006) from both the eastern Mediterranean Basin and Marmaris coasts of the southern Aegean Sea.