Demersal capture of an adult female ceratioid anglerfish , Ceratias holboelli Krøyer , 1845 ( Lophiiformes , Ceratiidae ) with a parasitic male from the North Spain Slope ( Bay of Biscay , NE Atlantic )

One adult female of the deep sea ceratioid anglerfish Ceratias holboelli Krøyer, 1845 was caught with a commercial trawling gear on the fishing ground named “Ranón” (43°53’N, 05°51’W) at 350 m depth, on a bottom of silt, sand and gravel, on 23/01/1984. At our knowledgement this is the more southern record of an adult female of this species in the eastern North Atlantic. The specimen is deposited in the Centro de Experimentación Pesquera (Consejería de Agricultura y Pesca del Principado de Asturias) collection, under the number CP/723, at Gijón (Spain). The specimen is with intact illicium and esca. Body colour, as fixed in formalin, black with exception of the distal portion of the esca and some whitish areas on the lateral sides of the body. Esca bearing a single escal appendage with two lateral filaments (Fig. 1). Vomerine teeth absent. Two dorsal caruncles. On the posterior left side of the belly there are attached one parasitic male, and slightly anterior to it, there are a whitish area that We think could to be the scar of the attachment site of an additional, and lost, male (Fig. 2). The main measures are: a.Female: Standard Length (SL): 480 mm; Body depth: 200 mm; Illicium length: 94.2 mm (19.6% of SL). Number of fin rays: Caudal: 8; Dorsal: 4; Anal: 4; Pectoral: 4. b.Male: Length: 12.5 mm With a broad geographical distribution over the World Ocean, C. holboelli, joint with C. uranoscopus, are the most widely spread species of the genus (Regan & Trewavas, 1932; Bertelsen, 1951; Bertelsen & Pietsch, 1983, 1984; Pietsch, 1986),

One adult female of the deep sea ceratioid anglerfish Ceratias holboelli Krøyer, 1845 was caught with a commercial trawling gear on the fishing ground named "Ranón" (43°53'N, 05°51'W) at 350 m depth, on a bottom of silt, sand and gravel, on 23/01/1984.At our knowledgement this is the more southern record of an adult female of this species in the eastern North Atlantic.
The specimen is deposited in the Centro de Experimentación Pesquera (Consejería de Agricultura y Pesca del Principado de Asturias) collection, under the number CP/723, at Gijón (Spain).
The specimen is with intact illicium and esca.Body colour, as fixed in formalin, black with exception of the distal portion of the esca and some whitish areas on the lateral sides of the body.Esca bearing a single escal appendage with two lateral filaments (Fig. 1).Vomerine teeth absent.Two dorsal caruncles.
On the posterior left side of the belly there are attached one parasitic male, and slightly anterior to it, there are a whitish area that We think could to be the scar of the attachment site of an additional, and lost, male (Fig. 2).
The  (Regan & Trewavas, 1932;Bertelsen, 1951;Bertelsen & Pietsch, 1983, 1984;Pietsch, 1986),  the third species, C. tentaculatus, being limited to the Southern Ocean (Bertelsen & Pietsch, 1983;Pietsch, 1986;Drioli & Vigne, 1992).This is the first record of the species in the Bay of Biscay (NE Atlantic), (Fig. 3) although there was at least two previous records near this geographic area (Pietsch, 1986, p. 484), and it came us from a fishing ground whose depth limits between 200 and 400 m (Alcazar et al., 1981) permit us qualify the capture as demersal.This is not the first time that adult females of C. holboelli are been caught in relatively shallow depths (i.e. the holotype came from 0-300 m, see Bertelsen, 1951, andPietsch, 1986) although actually the bulk of specimens were caught at depths between 400 and 2000 m.
The parasitic male on our specimen is likely recently attached because its small size (SL 12,5 mm) range near that of the biggest free living (premetamorphic) males (SL 12 mm), whereas the size of the recorded bulk of attached males lies between 24 and 118 mm (Pietsch, 1976).Furthermore, we think that the whitish area seen on the belly, near the attached males, could to be the scar leave by another previously atached, and lost, male, as seen on other ceratioids with parasitic males, as Haplophryne mollis (Family Linophrynidae) (Munk & Bertelsen, 1983;Bertelsen & Pietsch, 1983).
If according with Bertelsen (1951, p. 235) on the influence of oceanic currents on the transport and spreading of adult ceratioids, an account of our record could be the hydrology and current regime of the deep-water masses in the Bay of Biscay and the influence of the northern spanish slope morphology on their dynamics.Although these aspect are still little known in the area of capture, the dynamics and bathymetric distribution of water masses have been studied recently (Boucher, 1985;Vangrieshen, 1985;Botas et al., 1989).They have found a water mass from surface to 500 m in depth whose characteristics agree with those of the North Atlantic Central Water (NACW) (Botas el al., 1989) , with a mixing layer between 500 and 600 m with the underlying Mediterranean Water (MW) which extends down to 1000 m.These limits are      Botas et al. 1989Botas et al. , 1990;;Boucher, 1985, andVangrieshem, 1985).
The physical parameters of water masses in the area of capture agree well with those found elsewhere C. holboelli adult female were recorded.(Table I).We think the presence of this species in the Bay of Biscay could to be not accidental, but likely more frecuent as previously stated, although its scarcity can to make difficult that other specimens could to be caught in the next future.
C. holboelli, joint with C. uranoscopus, are the most widely spread species of the genus