Revista de Biología Tropical

ISSN 0034-7744 ISSN 0034-7744

A spinal column malformation in the creolefish
Paranthias colonus (Osteichthyes: Serranidae)

Jesús Rodríguez-Romero ¹* , Leonardo Cárdenas ² , Juan Carlos Pérez Urbiola ¹ , Roxana Hinohuye Rivera ¹ and Mario Alberto Silva Hernández ¹

1 Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste, S.C. Apdo. Postal 128, La Paz, B.C.S.

2 CICIMAR- Instituto Politécnico Nacional. Apdo. Postal 592, La Paz, B.C.S.

* E-mail: jrodri@cibnor.mx

Received 13-XII-2000. Corrected 21-V-2001. Accepted 25-X-2001.

Key words: Paranthias colonus, creolefish, spinal column malformation.

A creolefish, Paranthias colonus Hildebrand, with deformities in the spinal column, was captured at Isla Espíritu Santo, B.C.S., México (24º35 N; 110º24 W). The specimen is in the icthyological collection of the Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste (CIB-NOR) in La Paz, B.C.S. (#CIB1300). The spinal column has v-shaped lardosis in two positions (Fig. 1). One starts at the vertebra 18 and the second at the vertebra 20. Secondary effects include a reduction in size of vertebrae 18 and 19, and a bend and thickening of the neural and haemal spines on vertebra 19.

We found no reference to this type of malformation in P. colonus. In our judgement, the malformation is a genetic alteration occuring during the ontogenetic development, which did not prevent the fish from reaching full size.

Acknowledgments
We thank CIBNOR for the financial support for the project: Structure and ecology of fish of Isla Espíritu Santo B.C.S., México.