Resumen de Northernmost Occurrence of Zanclus cornutus (Zanclidae) in the Eastern Pacific (Northern Gulf of California, Mexico)

Francisco Fernández Rivera Melo, Héctor Reyes Bonilla, Fernanda Pérez Alarcón

• The Moorish Idol (Zanclus cornutus (Linnaeus, 1758)) is a tropical species that is distributed extensively in rocky and coral reefs in the Pacific Ocean, within the Gulf of California, its presence has been reported only in its southern region. In this work, the presence of Z. cornutus in the central and northern Gulf of California is confirmed, specifically in the Coronados islands (25.71534 ° N, −110.77567 ° W) and San Pedro Nolasco (27.9530 ° N, 111.3663 ° W). These records increase their distribution 200 km north of their known limit. This finding seems to be another example of a trend recently observed in several species of tropical fish, they have expanded their distribution towards the center and the north of the Gulf of California in possible response to the warming of the Gulf.