First Record of the Rare Deepwater Assfish Bassozetus mozambiquensis (Ophidiiformes: Ophidiidae) from the Western South Atlantic

Abstract

A single specimen of Bassozetus mozambiquensis Tomiyama, Takami, and Fukui, 2016, collected off southern Brazil in the western South Atlantic and held in the University of Hamburg ichthyological collection, was re-examined. Because the species was previously known only from the western Indian Ocean, solely on the basis of the holotype, the present specimen represents not only the first Atlantic record of the species, but also a ca. 8300 km westward extension of the distributional range. A detailed description of the Atlantic specimen and an updated diagnosis of the species are provided.