FIRST RECORD OF ACENTRONURA DENDRITICA (BARBOUR, 1905) (GASTEROSTEIFORMES: SYNGNATHIDAE) FROM MEXICO

摘要

The syngnathids (pipefishes and seahorses) comprise ～215 species belonging to 52 genera. Most species occur in warm temperate to tropical waters but some pipefishes inhabit relatively cool waters (Nelson, 1994). They are mainly marine forms inhabiting shallow depths (0-50 m) but some can occur in both freshwater and estuarine waters (Dawson, 1982). Acentronura dendritica Barbour, 1905 is one of the 27 pipefish species known in the western Atlantic. This pipefish can be easily recognized from others by a unique combination of characters: ventrally coiled tail, a small caudal fin, elevated dorsal-fin base, and an essentially unsealed brood pouch. It is considered a transitional form between pipefishes and seahorses (Dawson, 1982; Robins et al., 1986). Acentronura dendritica is a small, rare, solitary species; the largest known specimen is 81 mm standard length, SL (Dawson, 1982). Dawson (1982) presented information on 31 specimens (21-81 mm SL) of this species caught in the western Atlantic. This pipe-horse has a wide distributional range between New Brunswick, Canada, and Pernam-buco, Brazil. However, most of the known specimens are from the Atlantic coast of the U.S., the northern Gulf of Mexico, Canada, Bermuda, Bahamas, and Hispaniola (Boehl-ke and Chaplin, 1968; McEachran and Fechhelm, 1998). It has also been recorded in coastal waters of Cuba (Claro, 1994), Colombia (Acero and Garzon, 1988), and recently (1997) Belize (Anon. 2001). Thirty-one syngnathids are known to occur in Mexico, 15 of which are from the Caribbean region (Watson and Sandknop, 1996; Castro-Aguirre et al., 1999; Schmitter-Soto et al., 2000; Froese and Pauly, 2001).