Biological indicator of warming events: Presence of the Cortez angelfish Pomacanthus zonipectus at temperate conditions of Bahía de San Quintín, Baja California, México

Özet

An individual of the Cortez angelfish, Pomacanthus zonipectus (Gill, 1862) was obtained at the temperate Bahía de San Quintín, Baja California, México (Lat. 30.428343, Long. 115.987014), on May 15, 2021. All counts, morpho-logical description and col-ors of the specimen caught agree with the previous de-scriptions for the species P. zonipectus. The Cortez an-gelfish is a tropical fish species, and its presence at the temperate environment may possibly be associated with warming events, The Blob-El Niño 2013-2016, or the most recent moderate El Niño 2018-2019. This oc-currence constitutes the first record for the Cortez angel-fish in the San Quintín area, northern Pacific off Baja California, and after thou-sands of samplings with dif-ferent fishing gears begin-ning in 1993. The Cortez angelfish was recently rec-orded in August 25, 2016 as new occurrence in Laguna Ojo de Liebre, Baja Califor-nia Sur, México, also in the same warming event of The Blob-El Niño 2013-2016; from Ojo de Liebre to Bahía de San Quintín represents a northward movement of 355 kilometers and a new record in its distribution.