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New Records of Three Mesopelagic Fish Species from Southwestern Taiwan

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Abstract

Mesopelagic fishes are rich in species diversity, yet most of the species are poorly known from taxonomic aspect. The present study provided detailed morphological descriptions on three mesopelagic fish species collected for the first time in Taiwanese waters, including Coccorella atrata (Alcock 1894), Centrobranchus andreae (Lütken 1892), and Dasyscopelus selenops (Tåning 1928). These species, belonging to the Evermannellidae and Myctophidae, are poorly known from a taxonomic standpoint. Comparisons between these Taiwanese specimens and their respective congeners were given, facilitating their identification in future studies. This study contributes to a better understanding of the biodiversity of mesopelagic fish in subtropical Northwest Pacific and highlights the need for further taxonomic studies on this rich and important group of fish.

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Acknowledgements

We sincerely thank Y.-C. Chen (KMU) and Z.-L. Fang (Fish buyer in Donggang fishing port) for providing specimens of D. selenops and the other fish species, respectively. We thank Dr. Y. Iizuka (Institute of Earth Science, Academia Sinica) and H.-W. Liu (Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica) for their assistances in producing the SEM images and photographs of the otoliths. We also thank Dr. H.-C. Ho (NMMBA) for the assistance in searching for some useful references.

Funding

No funding was received for conducting this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Biology and Fisheries Science, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, Taiwan

    Shing-Lai Ng & Shoou-Jeng Joung

  2. Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan

    Chien-Hsiang Lin

  3. Center of Excellence for the Oceans, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, Taiwan

    Kwang-Ming Liu

  4. George Chen Shark Research Center, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, Taiwan

    Kwang-Ming Liu & Shoou-Jeng Joung

  5. Institute of Marine Affairs and Resource Management, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, Taiwan

    Kwang-Ming Liu

Authors
  1. Shing-Lai Ng
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  2. Chien-Hsiang Lin
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  3. Kwang-Ming Liu
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  4. Shoou-Jeng Joung
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Contributions

Ng SL collected and processed the specimens, and wrote the main manuscript; Lin CH prepared figures, wrote a part of the manuscript and reviewed the manscript; Liu KM and Joung SJ reviewed the manuscript. All authors reviewed the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Shoou-Jeng Joung.

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Ng, SL., Lin, CH., Liu, KM. et al. New Records of Three Mesopelagic Fish Species from Southwestern Taiwan. Thalassas 40, 81–90 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41208-023-00614-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41208-023-00614-w

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