Among the Lampridiformes (7 families, 12 genera, 21 species), the Lampridae include a single genus (Lampris) and two living species worldwide: L. guttatus (Brünnich, 1788) and L. immaculatus Gilchrist, 1904, both exclusively marine (Wiley et al. 1998, Froese and Pauly 2008). Only L. guttatus, a bathypelagic, mid-water pelagic species, occurs in the Mediterranean between 100 and 400 m depth (Briggs 1960, Palmer 1986). This uncommon species has a worldwide oceanic dis- tribution in tropical to temperate waters (see Collette 2002, Froese and Pauly 2008) and belong to the bitemperate- subtropical pattern according to Krefft (1976). The first record and drawing of L. guttatus is a specimen caught at South Queensferry (Edinburgh, Scotland), and figured by Sir Robert Sibbald in 1664 in his Scotia Illustrata (Cuvier and Valenciennes 1835, D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson 1918). However, the first specimen to be described in detail was obtained by a certain Dr Mortimer, caught in the same area at Leith (the harbour of Edinburgh) in the year 1750 (Cuvier and Valenciennes 1835, D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson 1918). In his description, Dr Mortimer has added “that the Prince of Anamaboo, a country on the west coast of Africa, being then in England, recognised the fish immediately as a species common on that coast, which the natives called Opah, and said it was good to eat”. Lampris guttatus is also known in the Mediterranean (Tortonese 1963, Palmer 1986, Bauchot 1987, Quignard and Tomasini 2000), but as mentioned by Dulčić et al. (2005), in spite of his undoubted presence in the Mediterranean, published papers on its occurrence (date of capture, location), morphometrics, length and weight, food and feeding are very scarce (Table 1, Fig. 1). L. gut- tatus has been recorded in Italy by Spinola (1807; Ligurian Sea; it could be the first mention of this species in the Mediterranean Sea); Ariola (1904; Ligurian Sea), ACTAICHTHYOLOGICAETPISCATORIA(2010)40(1):91–98 DOI: 10.3750/AIP2010.40.1.15 * Correspondence: Prof. Patrice Francour, University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis. E.A. 4228 ECOMERS, Parc Valrose, 06108 Nice cedex 2. France, phone: +33(0)492076832, e-mail: francour@unice.fr. RECENTOCCURRENCESOFOPAH, LAMPRIS GUTTATUS (ACTINOPTERYGII, LAMPRIFORMES,LAMPRIDAE),INTHEWESTERNMEDITERRANEANSEA Patrice FRANCOUR 1* , Jean-Michel COTTALORDA 1 , Maurice AUBERT 2 , Simone BAVA 3 , Marine COLOMBEY 4 , Pierre GILLES 5 , Hichem KARA 6 , Patrick LELONG 7 , Luisa MANGIALAJO 1 , Roger MINICONI 8 , and Jean-Pierre QUIGNARD 9 1 University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis, ECOMERS, France 2 International University of the Sea, Cagnes-sur-Mer, France 3 Marine Protected Area of Bergeggi Island, V. de Mari 28/D 17028, Bergeggi (SV), Italy 4 National Park of Port-Cros, France 5 Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, Monaco 6 University of Annaba, Laboratoire of the Marine Bioressources, Annaba, Algeria 7 Oceanographic Institut Paul Ricard, Les Embiez, France 8 11 Rue Colomba, Ajaccio, France 9 1 Allée Ermitage, Castelnau-le-Lez, France Francour P., Cottalorda J.-M., Aubert M., Bava S., Colombey M., Gilles P., Kara H., Lelong P., Mangialajo L., Miniconi R. 8 , Quignard J.-P. 2010. Recent occurrences of opah, Lampris guttatus (Actinopterygii, Lampriformes, Lampridae), in the western Mediterranean Sea. Acta Ichthyol. Piscat. 40 (1): 91–98. Abstract. The first records of Lampris guttatus in the Mediterranean Sea date back to 1807. Yet, until now it has been considered as a rare species (less than 25 specimens recorded in the literature). Since 2008, at least 23 spec- imens have been fished or observed along the French Mediterranean coast. In this paper, we present an updated review of records in the Mediterranean and discuss the possible link with the present sea water warming. We hypothesise that the recent Mediterranean specimens could come from the Atlantic, throughout the Gibraltar Strait, following a northward migration along the Northeast Atlantic coast due to present global warming. Keywords: new records, first record, Algeria, Mediterranean, rare species, SST, warming