First report of crested cusk-eel, Ophidion josephi (Actinopterygii: Ophidiiformes: Ophidiidae), in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico

Abstract

The crested cusk-eel, Ophidion josephi Girard, 1858, is a coastal marine species that is distributed in the northwestern Atlantic, from the northern Gulf of Mexico to Georgia, USA. Eighteen specimens (177–230 mm in standard length) were caught by beach purse seine at a depth of about 5 m, in Veracruz, in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico. This is the first documentation from Mexican marine waters and the southernmost confirmed records of this species, showing that its range extends further south than previously known and that it shares faunistic similarities with other species in the northwestern Atlantic.