One specimen (total length: TL = 108 mm, weight: W = 0.70 g) of smallmouth spiny eel Polyacanthonotus rissoanus (De Filippi & Verany, 1857) (Notacanthidae) was captured at a depth between 1192 and 1200 m in the area of the southern Adriatic Pit (42° 05.80 N; 17° 38.00 E). This is the first record of this species for the Adriatic. Specimen is stored in the Ichthyological collection of the Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Split, under the number IOR-18.