Les poissons de la famille Echeneididae (Remoras) de la Mer Ligure et de la Mer Tyrrhenienne

Five spp of Echeneididae are presently known in the Mediterranean: Echeneis naucrates L., Remora remora (L.), R. brachyptera (Lowe), R. australis (Benn) and Rhombochirus osteochir (Cuv). All of them may now be reported from the area comprising the Ligurian and the Tyrrhenian seas. Many mistakes occurred in the past, chiefly concerning R. remora a name too often wrongly applied to different spp. Echeneis holbrooki from the gulf of Genoa is really E. naucrates. Only 2 specimens of R. brachyptera were found, both in Sicilian waters. R. australis is here recorded from the Tyrrhenian sea. Rh. osteochir has been hitherto overlooked, but probably is the commonest Echeneid in the Mediterranean. A list is given of specimens from several localities (Gulf of Genoa, Elba, Naples and Sicily). Some of their variations are correlated with age, while others may express a taxonomic divergence: both need to be investigated.