taxonID	type	description	language	source
B5758A00FFCC053EFF4EAF44FA22FA2E.taxon	materials_examined	Material examined. – TFMCBM-VP / 01952, one maturing female, 624 mm TL, 559 mm SL, off Playa Nueva, Tazacorte, West of La Palma, 28 ° 36 ’ 30 ” N - 17 ° 56 ’ 51 ” W, 476 - 570 m, cruise PexLa-Palma 2009, St. 32, 31 May 2009, horizontal bottom longline.	en	González-Lorenzo, J. Gustavo, Triay-Portella, Raül, González-Jiménez, José F., Martín-Sosa, Pablo, Jiménez, Sebastián, González, José A. (2020): Merluccius polli and M. senegalensis (Merlucciidae) as first records from the Canary Islands (north-eastern Atlantic), with morphology data. Cybium 44 (1): 57-60, DOI: 10.26028/cybium/2020-441-007, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.26028/cybium/2020-441-007
B5758A00FFCC053EFF4EAF44FA22FA2E.taxon	description	Morphology data. – Morphometrics, selected body proportions, meristics and other distinguishing features of the Canary specimen of M. polli studied are shown in Table I, and compared with data from the literature (Cohen et al., 1990; Lloris et al., 2005, 2016). Body proportions, meristic data and other specific features of this specimen agree in all respects with published data (Tab. I). Its pectoral fin length almost reaches the lower limit of the species’ published range, probably reflecting different sizes of this fin: left fin nearly reaching the origin of the anal fin, but right fin reaching it (Tab. I; usually reaching the origin of anal fin, but not in large individuals, according to Cohen et al. (1990 )). Radiographs corroborate five cervical vertebrae with three ribs on each, as attributed to this species by Cohen et al. (1990) and Lloris et al. (2005) (Fig. 2; Tab. I).	en	González-Lorenzo, J. Gustavo, Triay-Portella, Raül, González-Jiménez, José F., Martín-Sosa, Pablo, Jiménez, Sebastián, González, José A. (2020): Merluccius polli and M. senegalensis (Merlucciidae) as first records from the Canary Islands (north-eastern Atlantic), with morphology data. Cybium 44 (1): 57-60, DOI: 10.26028/cybium/2020-441-007, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.26028/cybium/2020-441-007
B5758A00FFCC053EFF4EAF44FA22FA2E.taxon	discussion	Remarks. – A deep-water bathydemersal species, ranging from 50 to 1098 m depth, usually shallower than 550 m, living close to the bottom on the continental shelf and slope (Maurin, 1963; Cohen et al., 1990; Lloris et al., 2005; Manchih et al., 2018). Geographically, it is an eastern Atlantic species, distributed along the West African shelf and slope, from a locality between Cape Juby (Atlantic Morocco) and Cape Bojador (Western Sahara) (Maurin, 1963; Manchih et al., 2018) and southward into southwest Africa near Cape Frio, Namibia, including the Cape Verde Islands (Reiner, 2005), ranging 29 ° N- 19 ° S, 19 ° W- 15 ° E (Cohen et al., 1990; Maurin, 1990; Lloris et al., 2005; Manchih et al., 2018). At the northern limit of its distribution area, this nonmigratory species (Lloris et al., 2005) is only represented by a few large individuals (500 - 630 mm TL) living at depths greater than 500 m (Maurin, 1963).	en	González-Lorenzo, J. Gustavo, Triay-Portella, Raül, González-Jiménez, José F., Martín-Sosa, Pablo, Jiménez, Sebastián, González, José A. (2020): Merluccius polli and M. senegalensis (Merlucciidae) as first records from the Canary Islands (north-eastern Atlantic), with morphology data. Cybium 44 (1): 57-60, DOI: 10.26028/cybium/2020-441-007, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.26028/cybium/2020-441-007
B5758A00FFCF053DFF4EAE9BFB5CF99E.taxon	materials_examined	Material examined. – TFMCBM-VP / 01449, one adult, 804 mm TL, 756 mm SL, East of Roque del Este, North-East of Lanzarote, 29 ° 16 ’ N - 13 ° 20 ’ W, 295 m, 12 Dec. 2004, handline.	en	González-Lorenzo, J. Gustavo, Triay-Portella, Raül, González-Jiménez, José F., Martín-Sosa, Pablo, Jiménez, Sebastián, González, José A. (2020): Merluccius polli and M. senegalensis (Merlucciidae) as first records from the Canary Islands (north-eastern Atlantic), with morphology data. Cybium 44 (1): 57-60, DOI: 10.26028/cybium/2020-441-007, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.26028/cybium/2020-441-007
B5758A00FFCF053DFF4EAE9BFB5CF99E.taxon	description	Morphology data. – Morphometrics, selected body proportions, meristics and other distinguishing features of the Canary specimen of M. senegalensis studied are shown in Table II, and compared with data from the literature (Svetovidov, 1986; Cohen et al., 1990; Lloris et al., 2005, 2016). Body proportions, meristic data and other specific features of this specimen agree in all respects with those in the literature (Tab. II). In particular, the morphometric proportion of snout length in % HL is slightly extended upward, while eye diameter and inter-orbital width in % HL are slightly extended downwards (Tab. II). The presently studied material slightly extends the range of upper gill rakers on the first arch (3 - 4 in lit., this study, 5) (Tab. II). Radiographs corroborate six cervical vertebrae with four ribs on each, which is in agreement with Svetovidov (1986), Cohen et al. (1990) and Lloris et al. (2005) (Fig. 3; Tab. II). When fresh, the studied specimen exhibited a characteristic olive green blotch (dark at its proximal end) at the base of pectoral fins. A fishing captain informed us that this colour feature was widely used on board the Spanish trawler fleet operating in the region, to separate M. senegalensis from M. polli. Lloris et al. (2005) earlier pointed out the difficulty encountered by the fishing industry to separate the two species within catches. Surprisingly, such a distinguishing chromatic character does not appear in any specialized scientific text.	en	González-Lorenzo, J. Gustavo, Triay-Portella, Raül, González-Jiménez, José F., Martín-Sosa, Pablo, Jiménez, Sebastián, González, José A. (2020): Merluccius polli and M. senegalensis (Merlucciidae) as first records from the Canary Islands (north-eastern Atlantic), with morphology data. Cybium 44 (1): 57-60, DOI: 10.26028/cybium/2020-441-007, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.26028/cybium/2020-441-007
B5758A00FFCF053DFF4EAE9BFB5CF99E.taxon	discussion	Remarks. – A benthic to bathypelagic species, ranging from 15 to 1055 m depth, usually at 100 - 600 m, found close to mud or muddy sand bottoms (Cohen et al., 1990; Lloris et al., 2005, 2016; Manchih et al., 2018). It is an Eastern Atlantic species, distributed along the Western North Africa shelf and slope, from Cape Cantin, Atlantic Morocco as far as Cape Roxo, the border between Senegal and Guinea-Bissau, including the Cape Verde Islands (Maurin, 1990; Wirtz et al., 2013), ranging 33 ° N- 12 ° N, 19 ° W- 8 ° W (Cohen et al., 1990; Lloris et al., 2005, 2016). This species undergoes seasonal latitudinal migrations (Martos and Peralta, 1995), moving southwards between October and March during the spawning season (López Abellán and Ariz Tellería, 1993).	en	González-Lorenzo, J. Gustavo, Triay-Portella, Raül, González-Jiménez, José F., Martín-Sosa, Pablo, Jiménez, Sebastián, González, José A. (2020): Merluccius polli and M. senegalensis (Merlucciidae) as first records from the Canary Islands (north-eastern Atlantic), with morphology data. Cybium 44 (1): 57-60, DOI: 10.26028/cybium/2020-441-007, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.26028/cybium/2020-441-007
