Occurrence of the false scad, Caranx rhonchus Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817 in the Adriatic Sea

The false scad, Caranx rhonchus Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire 1817, is a common predatory fish in the eastern Atlantic, ranging from Morocco including the Mediterranean, to Angola along the African coast, down to southern Namibia (Bianchi et al., 1993). Depth range of occurrence is reported to be 15– 200 m, with optimal temperatures for this species in the range of 15–22°C. The prey is mainly euphausiids, shrimps, squids and fish (Smith-Vaniz and Berry, 1981). This paper presents the first documented record of the false scad in the southern Adriatic Sea.