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Captures of Molva molva (Linnaeus, 1758) still happen in NW Mediterranean waters

The ling Molva molva is a widespread gadid in the Northeast Atlantic and one example of a poorly studied species of particular interest, being its distribution affected by climate warming. The ling supposedly occurs in the cold waters of the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea, where it used to be commonly fished, but to our best knowledge, records of M. molva after the 1990s are not availa-ble from the scientific literature. Here we report the recent capture of two individuals, one of them of considerable size, at 35 nautical miles off the coast of Castelló (Spain, NW Mediterranean).


INTRODUCTION
The ling, Molva molva (Linnaeus, 1758), is a boreal gadid fish, widely distributed in the North Atlantic and from southern Greenland to Canada. It is a long living species, with a lifespan exceeding 20 years and sizes up to 200 cm in total length (SVETOVIDOV, 1986). Fisheries have exploited the ling for centuries in the North Atlantic (GONZALEZ et al., 2015), most significantly as a target of longline fisheries, but M. molva is also a valued bycatch in other fisheries. In the Mediterranean Sea, the occurrence of this species is considered to be strictly restricted to the NW basin, where it used to be commonly fished along the Catalan coasts (LLORET et al., 2015). Nevertheless, according to LLORET et al. (2015) landings of M. molva off the Catalan coast (NW Mediterranean) ceased in the 1990s and reasonable concern can be expressed on the status of this cold-water species in relation to climate change scenarios. Here we report new information on the recent capture of two individuals in the NW Mediterranean Sea.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
In December 2015, during two consecutive days, two individuals of M. molva were captured by a longliner in two nearby located fishing grounds located at around 35 nautical miles off the coast of Castelló (Spain, NW Mediterranean). The largest ling ( Fig. 1) was collected at 260 m depth (geographical coordinates: 39º40'860''N, 00º39'441''E), it weighted 13.5 kg and measured 160 cm. The other individual was fished the day before in a nearby located area at 400 m depth (geographical coordinates: 40º09'340''N, 01º10'053''E) and it weighted 1.5 kg. Pictures, description and information on the captures, were gathered through interviews with the crew of the professional longliner vessel Panollo Segundo, which collected the ling. The identification of both the individuals was based on the pictures reported in Fig. 1.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
To our best knowledge, the reported captures stand for the first documented evidence of the occurrence of M. molva in the Spanish Mediterranean waters since the 1990s.
Pictures allowed recognizing some taxonomical characters of this species: the prominent upper jaw and the caudal fin, with white and black terminal margins. According to LLORIS (2015), these traits suffice to distinguish M. molva from other congeneric species (e.g., M. mac- Fig. 1 rophtalma). Fishermen also described the occurrence of a barbell in the chin, which was barely noticeable in Fig. 1. According to the fishermen, the species was completely unfamiliar to them and they had never caught it before. Considering that M. molva is a poorly studied species, this new observation has a certain relevance for the knowledge of its distribution. This may be especially true in the context of climate change, since this cold-water fish is known to be retreating its distribution as a natural response to seawater warming (PERRY et al., 2005). While historical data in North Atlantic waters highlighted significant declines in ling abundances (see GONZALEZ et al., 2005 for a revision), very scarce information exists on the recent occurrence of this species in the Mediterranean Sea (BIAGI et al., 2002, MAYNOU et al., 2012. LLO-RET et al. (2015) reported that catches of M. molva ceased in the Catalan Sea (NW Mediterranean) in the 1990s. These authors also considered the status of M. molva in the Mediterranean as critical, classifying the ling as being in the "disappearance from the catch" phase. Nevertheless, the here-reported observation of two individuals off the southern Catalan coasts shed light on the presence of large M. molva in the area, providing an important, though punctual information on the current occurrence of this species in the NW Mediterranean Sea. Present findings also highlight the strategic importance of fishermen in detecting the occurrence of rare and poorly known megafauna (AZZURRO et al., 2018). Certainly, future information are needed to clarify if the Castelló individuals were vagrant fish or if they belonged to a permanent population, which could hopefully still exist in the area.

AKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We kindly appreciate the collaboration and information kindly provided by the captain and crew of the longliner PANOLLO SEGUNDO and by X. DEL SEÑOR. We also warmly acknowledge our colleague Domingo LLORIS SAMO for the valuable comments received and the useful suggestions of two anonymous reviewers.