A Stranded Mola alexandrini (Ranzani, 1839) from the North-Western Adriatic Sea: Integrating Morphological and Molecular Evidence with a Preliminary Morphometric Framework

Recent taxonomic revisions within the family Molidae have clarified the validity and diagnostic characters of the bump-head sunfish Mola alexandrini (Ranzani, 1839), a species historically confused with Mola mola. Despite its circumglobal distribution, confirmed records of M. alexandrini in the Mediterranean Sea remain limited, particularly in the Adriatic Sea. Here, we report the occurrence of an adult female M. alexandrini stranded along the north-western Adriatic coast (Ravenna, Italy) in March 2026. Species identification was assessed through an integrative approach combining external morphology, morphometric measurements, and mitochondrial COI sequencing. The specimen exhibited diagnostic morphological traits consistent with M. alexandrini, including a rounded clavus lacking lobes and back-fold, a deep laterally compressed body, and characteristic coloration patterns. Phylogenetic analysis based on COI sequences clustered the specimen within the M. alexandrini clade, clearly separating it from M. mola. This finding provides further evidence of the occurrence of M. alexandrini in the Adriatic Sea and highlights the importance of combining molecular and morphological approaches to resolve taxonomic uncertainty within the genus Mola. The study also highlights that historical misidentification may have contributed to an underestimation of the occurrence of M. alexandrini in the Mediterranean basin