Corresponding author: Iria Fernandez-Silva (
Academic editor: D. Bloom
The number of goatfish species has increased recently, thanks in part to the application of molecular approaches to the taxonomy of a family with conservative morphology and widespread intraspecific color variation. A new subspecies
Fernandez-Silva I, Randall JE, Golani D, Bogorodsky SV (2016)
The goatfish
Color photograph of the neotype of
Underwater photograph of
Like other goatfishes, this species uses the pair of sensory barbels on its chin to locate prey, mainly in sedimentary substrata, as seen in Fig.
Underwater photography of
Underwater photographs of
School of
School of
We, and surely others, have noticed that the population of
School of
Underwater photography of two
The caudal fin continues to be yellow from the Red Sea into the Gulf of Aden and Socotra, as shown by Fig.
Across the Arabian Sea to the south coast of Oman aggregations of
School of
School of
Type specimens were deposited at the Bernice P. U.S.
Lateral-line counts begin with the first pored scale completely posterior to the upper end of the gill opening and end at the base of the caudal fin (three pored scales continue onto the caudal fin). Counts of gill rakers were made on the first gill arch; they include all rudiments.
Lengths of specimens are given as standard length head length
Only meristic characters and measurements that vary between
Because goatfishes present allometric changes in body form (
During a previous phylogeographic survey of
The data underpinning the analysis reported in this paper are deposited in the Dryad Data Repository at
Body elongate, the depth at first dorsal-fin origin 4.1–4.5 in
Meristics are provided in Tables
Preserved holotype of
Comparison of head length, eye diameter, and barbel length in
Lateral-line scale counts of
37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | mean | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gulf of Aqaba | 12 | 10 | 1 | 37.5 | ||
Red Sea off Sudan & Saudi Arabia |
|
5 | 37.2 | |||
† | Maldives | 2 | 4 | 37.7 | ||
|
Islands of Western Indian Ocean ‡ | 5 | 5 | 4 | 37.9 | |
East Indies § | 4 | 24 | 5 | 38.0 | ||
Islands of Oceania (except Hawai‘i) | | 3 | 26 | 7 | 38.1 | ||
Hawaiian Islands & Johnston Atoll | 2 | 16 | 6 | 1 | 38.2 |
† Both subspecies may overlap and interbreed in Maldives
‡ Chagos Archipelago and Mauritius
§ Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines and Solomon Islands
| Wake, Minami-Tori Shima, Mariana Islands, Marquesas Islands, Phoenix Islands, Samoa Islands and Rapa
Total gill-raker counts of
25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | mean | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gulf of Aqaba | 3 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 26.9 | ||
Red Sea off Sudan & Saudi Arabia | 4 |
|
11 | 2 | 26.5 | |||
† | Maldives | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 27.2 | ||
|
Islands of Western Indian Ocean ‡ | 4 | 2 | 2 | 27.8 | |||
East Indies § | 3 | 11 | 12 | 7 | 27.7 | |||
Islands of Oceania (except Hawai‘i) | | 12 | 18 | 11 | 3 | 28.4 | |||
Hawaiian Islands & Johnston Atoll | 2 | 3 | 10 | 3 | 28.8 |
† Both subspecies may overlap and interbreed in Maldives
‡ Chagos Archipelago and Mauritius
§ Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines and Solomon Islands
| Wake, Minami-Tori Shima, Mariana Islands, Marquesas Islands, Phoenix Islands, Samoa Islands and Rapa
Body elongate, its depth at first dorsal-fin origin 4.1 (4.2–4.5), and maximum width 6.7 (6.5–7.3), head length 3.2 (3.0–3.3, n=27), snout length 6.9 (6.8–7.7), orbit diameter 13.0 (10.3–13.5, n=27), barbel length 4.5 (4.2–5.1, n=27), caudal-peduncle length 4.8 (4.6–5.1), caudal-peduncle depth 11.6 (11.4–12.0), pelvic-fin length 4.9 (4.7–5.3), pectoral-fin length 4.8 (4.7–5.1), longest anal ray 7.5 (7.2–7.7), longest dorsal spine 4.8 (4.6–5.1), longest dorsal ray 7.2 (7.2–7.8).
Mouth small, maxilla not reaching a vertical at front of orbit, upper-jaw length 12.3 (12.2–13.9) in
Scales very finely ctenoid; head fully scaled; scales on the base of caudal fin, other fins without scales; dorsal fin behind the vertical at fourth lateral line scale, origin of second dorsal above 18th (17th in some paratypes) scale. Pored scales on lateral line with many branching tubules.
Color in life silvery white to yellowish, slightly darker over lateral line; margin of each scale on upper half of body darker than scale. Yellow stripe on side of body at level of eye, from posterior margin of orbit to caudal-fin base, bordered by a narrow whitish stripe (stripe sometimes slightly blue); the stripe usually containing a black spot above posterior part of pectoral fins (under the first dorsal fin), sometimes faint due to fading, stripe anterior to spot occasionally indistinct; barbels white; dorsal fins usually transparent, sometimes first dorsal fin with yellowish tinge; pectoral, anal, and pelvic fins whitish, translucent; caudal fin yellowish or yellow. Color when fresh often pink and all fins yellow. Uniformly creamy white in preservative.
The population of
Comparison of Head Length, Eye Diameter, and Barbel Length in subspecies of
Locality | Standard length (mm) and number of specimens | Head length in standard length | Eye diameter in standard length | Barbel length in standard length | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gulf of Aqaba | 107–252 (n=23) | 3.0–3.6 (3.3) | 11.0–15.8 (13.4) | 4.1–5.2 (4.7) | |
Red Sea ‡ | 97.5–203 (n=28) | 3.0–3.2 (3.1) | 10.2–13.5 (11.3) | 4.2–4.8 (4.5) | |
† | Maldives | 85.5–144 (n=6) | 2.8–3.3 (3.2) | 10.1–11.8 (10.7) | 3.7–4.8 (4.4) |
|
Indian Ocean § | 120–192 (n=12) | 3.0–3.3 (3.1) | 10.5–11.7 (11.0) | 4.2–5.1 (4.5) |
East Indies | | 98–255 (n=34) | 3.1–3.5 (3.3) | 10.3–14.0 (12.5) | 4.3–5.6 (4.9) | |
Micronesia ¶ | 75–230 (n=26) | 3.1–3.8 (3.3) | 10.4–14.4 (11.9) | 4.2–5.9 (5.0) | |
South Pacific # | 81–198 (n=26) | 2.9–3.4 (3.2) | 10.2–12.8 (11.9) | 4.3–5.2 (4.7) | |
Hawaiian Is. †† | 83–288 (n=16) | 3.1–3.7 (3.3) | 10.4–15.6 (12.9) | 4.0–6.0 (5.1) |
† Both subspecies may overlap and interbreed in Maldives
‡ Off Sudan and Saudi Arabia
§ Chagos Archipelago and Mauritius
| Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, and Solomon Islands
¶ Wake, Minami-Tori Shima and Mariana Islands
# Marquesas Islands, Phoenix Islands, Samoa Islands and Rapa
†† Including Johnston Atoll
Proportional measurements of type specimens of
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Standard length (mm) | 142 | 125 | 120 | 118 | 111 | 108 | 106 | 181 | 162 | 120 | 135 | 166 |
Body depth | 24.3 | 23.1 | 23.2 | 24.1 | 22.8 | 22.1 | 22.2 | 22.1 | 22.2 | 22.1 | 22.0 | 25.1 |
Body width | 14.9 | 14.9 | 15.3 | 14.4 | 14.5 | 13.6 | 13.9 | 15.1 | 13.1 | 12.3 | 9.6 | 14.2 |
Head length | 31.3 | 33.2 | 32.6 | 32.3 | 31.9 | 32.1 | 30.9 | 32.1 | 30.6 | 31.5 | 32.2 | 33.2 |
Snout length | 14.4 | 14.4 | 13.9 | 13.5 | 14.7 | 13.2 | 13 | 14.4 | 14.5 | 13.1 | 13.5 | 15.2 |
Orbit diameter | 7.7 | 9.3 | 9.5 | 9.0 | 8.8 | 9.2 | 7.7 | 8.6 | 9.2 | 8.5 | 8.6 | 9.3 |
Interorbital width | 7.8 | 7.5 | 7.2 | 7.4 | 7.8 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.5 | 9.0 | 7.6 | 6.9 | 8.0 |
Upper-jaw length | 8.1 | 7.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 7.8 | 7.2 | 7.6 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 8.1 | 7.8 |
Barbel length | 22.3 | 23.4 | 24.0 | 22.5 | 21.8 | 22.5 | – | 21.0 | 19.8 | 20.8 | 22.2 | 20.0 |
Caudal-peduncle least depth | 8.6 | 8.6 | 8.3 | 8.6 | 8.5 | 8.4 | 8.7 | 8.8 | 9.2 | 8.8 | 9.2 | 9.2 |
Caudal-peduncle length | 24.3 | 22.4 | 20.1 | 23.0 | 23.1 | 24.9 | 21.8 | 25.2 | 23.3 | 30.5 | 20.3 | 23.4 |
Snout to origin of first dorsal fin | 41.1 | 39.2 | 39.6 | 39.3 | 40.4 | 37.3 | 27.3 | 38.6 | 40.6 | 38.9 | 40.1 | 42.0 |
Snout to origin of second dorsal fin | 68.1 | 67.0 | 66.6 | 67.3 | 66.5 | 63.8 | 65.1 | 65.5 | 65.9 | 62.8 | 63.2 | 68.8 |
Preanal-fin length | 69.4 | 65.6 | 67.5 | 68.9 | 66.5 | 66.4 | 65.7 | 67.7 | 67.0 | 64.8 | 6.7 | 67.4 |
Prepelvic-fin length | 33.2 | 33.2 | 35.2 | 34.9 | 32.8 | 34.3 | 33.0 | 33.5 | 32.9 | 31.3 | 31.8 | 32.7 |
Second dorsal-fin base | 12.8 | 12.5 | 11.7 | 12.3 | 12.2 | 11.5 | 12.1 | 13.1 | 11.8 | 10.8 | 11.1 | 12.4 |
Anal-fin base | 9.9 | 10.5 | 9.1 | 10.6 | 9.6 | 9.9 | 10.7 | 9.7 | 9.0 | 10.4 | 9.4 | 10.4 |
First dorsal-fin base | 16.7 | 18.8 | 19.9 | 21.8 | 17.6 | 16.6 | 17.4 | 17.2 | 15.3 | 17.3 | 16.0 | 19.0 |
Pectoral-fin base | 4.9 | 5.1 | 5.2 | 5.2 | 5.7 | 4.7 | 4.9 | 5.6 | 5.0 | 5.2 | 4.8 | 5.4 |
Longest dorsal spine | 20.8 | 19.9 | 21.3 | 21.8 | 19.7 | 18.7 | 19.0 | 21.3 | 20.6 | 20.2 | 21.2 | 20.1 |
Longest dorsal ray | 14.6 | 14.1 | 14.1 | 13.4 | 14.3 | 14.5 | 13.2 | 13.4 | 14.3 | 15.4 | 15.2 | 14.3 |
Longest anal ray | 13.9 | 13.4 | 13.5 | 13.7 | 13.2 | 12.9 | 13.6 | 13.8 | 13.3 | 14.7 | 14.4 | 13.7 |
Caudal-fin length | 28.1 | 27.1 | 26.8 | – | 26.6 | 24.9 | 25.0 | – | 26.3 | 27.5 | 28.6 | 25.9 |
Caudal concavity | 19.1 | 18.1 | 19.1 | – | 16.4 | 16.9 | 16.5 | – | 16.7 | 19.7 | 20.6 | 16.8 |
Pectoral-fin length | 20.8 | 20.3 | 20.6 | 21.5 | 21.2 | 19.9 | 20.7 | 19.8 | 20.0 | 21.3 | – | 21.7 |
Pelvic-fin length | 20.6 | 20.3 | 20.4 | 21.0 | 20.1 | 19.0 | 21.1 | 19.8 | 20.3 | 22.1 | 21.1 | 21.0 |
* Two specimens of
Body elongate, the depth at first dorsal-fin origin 4.0–4.6 in
Silvery white to yellowish, slightly darker over lateral line, margins of each scale on upper half of body darker than scale. Yellow stripe on side of body at level of eye, beginning from posterior margin of orbit and ending at caudal-fin base, bordered by two whitish narrow stripes (sometimes slightly blue); the stripe usually containing a black spot above posterior part of pectoral fins (under the first dorsal fin), sometimes faint due to fading, stripe anterior to spot occasionally indistinct; barbels white; dorsal fins usually transparent, sometimes first dorsal fin with yellowish tinge; pectoral, anal, and pelvic fins whitish, translucent; caudal fin varying from usually white or light gray to occasionally yellowish or yellow. Sometimes body color pattern of broad irregular red-brown bars, especially at night. When fresh, body color can turn pink and all fins yellow. Uniformly creamy white in preservative.
Distribution map of
The parsimony-based haplotype networks constructed with mtDNA
Median-joining haplotype network based on mitochondrial
We obtained a concatenated alignment of a 715-bp segment of the
Bayesian-inference based phylogenetic tree showing relationships among mtDNA concatenated haplotypes of segments of the
Higher gill-raker and lateral-line counts, smaller eyes and stable yellow coloration of the caudal fin in
Some ichthyologists, notably
Notably, the age of split of the
It is remarkable that individuals of
Endemic fishes of the Gulf of Aqaba.
Endemic fishes of the Gulf of Aqaba | Remarks |
---|---|
Known from Sharm el Moya, close to the entrance of the Gulf of Aqaba | |
Deep-water species | |
Recently photographed at Safaga | |
Formally endemic to Gulf of Aqaba, known from Sharm el Moya, close to the entrance | |
Reported from West Papua ( |
|
A specimen identified as |
|
Known at Ras Mohammed, close to the entrance of the Gulf of Aqaba | |
Known at Ras Mohammed, close to the entrance of the Gulf of Aqaba | |
Our range-wide phylogeographic survey of
We are grateful to Loreen O’Hara and Arnold Suzumoto from the Bernice P.