Check List 17(4): 1107-1112, doi: 10.15560/17.4.1107
Red Octopus, Octopus rubescens Berry, 1953 (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae), in the Mexican tropical Pacific
María del Carmen Alejo-Plata‡, Miguel A. Del Río-Portilla§, Oscar Illescas-Espinosa‡, Omar Valencia-Méndez|‡ Universidad del Mar, Campus Puerto Ángel, Puerto Ángel, Oaxaca, Mexico§ Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada, Ensenada, Mexico| Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Ciudad de México, Mexico
Corresponding author: María del Carmen Alejo-Plata ( plata@angel.umar.mx ) Academic editor: Sérgio de Almeida © María del Carmen Alejo-Plata, Miguel A. Del Río-Portilla, Oscar Illescas-Espinosa, Omar Valencia-Méndez. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Citation:
Alejo-Plata MC, Del Río-Portilla MA, Illescas-Espinosa O, Valencia-Méndez O (2021) Red Octopus, Octopus rubescens Berry, 1953 (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae), in the Mexican tropical Pacific. Check List 17(4): 1107-1112. https://doi.org/10.15560/17.4.1107 |  |
Abstract
“Octopus” rubescens Berry, 1953 is an octopus of temperate waters of the western coast of North America. This paper presents the first record of “O.” rubescens from the tropical Mexican Pacific. Twelve octopuses were studied; 10 were collected in tide pools from five localities and two mature males were caught by fishermen in Oaxaca. We used morphometric characters and anatomical features of the digestive tract to identify the species. The five localities along the Mexican Pacific coast provide solid evidence that populations of this species have become established in tropical waters.
Keywords
Artisanal fishery, cryptic species, Gulf of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Octopus