New Records of Marine Diatoms for the American Continent Found on Stone Scorpionfish Scorpaena mystes

The survey of new benthic substrata is expected to yield new records of diatom taxa. A particular type of substratum is the skin of the Stone scorpionfish Scorpaena mystes Jordan & Starks, 1895 that, because of its benthic form of life, represents a potential colonizing surface for various organisms, including epizoic and opportunistic diatom taxa (epibiotic community). Thus, a floristic survey of diatoms was carried out by sampling the epibiotic community from S. mystes specimens collected in the east coast of Baja California Sur (Gulf of California). Thirty diatoms are new records for Mexican littorals. Twelve of these taxa had not been hitherto recorded for American coasts. Micrographs, and morphometric and distribution data on these taxa are provided.