The Northernmost Records of Caranx crysos (Osteichthyes: Carangidae) in the NW Mediterranean Sea

From October 2018 to November 2022 three individuals of blue runner (Caranx crysos) were caught in the coastal waters of the Ligurian Sea, NW Mediterranean basin, and three more ones were observed therein. On one specimen we carried out meristic counts and morphometric measurements, estimated the age by means of otoliths, observed gonadic development, investigated the stomach content, and calculated the hepato-somatic index. Being in the extreme north of the western Mediterranean, these new records represent the northernmost records of the distribution range of this species in the western Mediterranean Sea. Such new step indicates the completion of the expansion of the blue runner along the whole basin. All the observed individuals were adults, thus preventing us from assessing by now the actual establishment of the species in the Ligurian Sea, where, however, it is likely that the ongoing sea water warming could favour the spreading of this species in the future.