Abstract
A new deepwater species, Enneapterygius velatus sp. nov. (Perciformes: Tripterygiidae), is described from two male specimens from Ryukyu Island, southern Japan, the holotype having been collected at a depth of 55 m and an underwater photograph taken between 30 and 41 m depth. The new species is characterized by an extremely long first dorsal-fin spine (length 31.6–34.0 % of SL), the first dorsal-fin spine bases close together, first dorsal-fin base length less than half the distance between the base of the third spine of the first dorsal-fin and origin of second dorsal-fin, first dorsal-fin spine base with developed inclinator muscles, long pelvic fins (tip of second ray extending beyond anal-fin origin), large body scales (8 circumpeduncular scales), the supratemporal sensory canals deeply U-shaped in dorsal view, snout profile weakly rounded, abdomen from between pelvic-fin bases to anal-fin origin covered by cycloid scales, body lacking significant blackish blotches and caudal-fin base with scattered melanophores in preserved specimens.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Chiang MC, Chen IS (2008) Taxonomic review and molecular phylogeny of the triplefin genus Enneapterygius (Teleostei: Tripterygiidae) from Taiwan, with description of two new species. Raffles Bull Zool 19:183–201
Fricke R (1994) Tripterygiid fishes of Australia, New Zealand and the southwest Pacific Ocean (Teleostei). Koeltz Scientific Books, Koenigstein
Fricke R (1997) Tripterygiid fishes of the western and central Pacific (Teleostei). Koeltz Scientific Books, Koenigstein
Fricke R, Erdmann MV (2017) Enneapterygius niue, a new species of triplefin from Niue and Samoa, southwestern Pacific Ocean (Teleostei: Tripterygiidae). J Ocean Sci Found 25:14–32
Hansen PEH (1986) Revision of the tripterygiid fish genus Helcogramma, including descriptions of four new species. Bull Mar Sci 38:313–354
Holleman W (2005) A review of the triplefin fin fish genus Enneapterygius (Blennioides: Tripterygiidae) in the western Indian Ocean, with descriptions of four new species. Smithiana Bull 5:1–25, pls 1–2
Holleman W, Bogorodsky SV (2012) A review of the blennioid fish family Tripterygiidae (Perciformes) in the Red Sea, with description of Enneapterygius qirmiz, and reinstatement of Enneapterygius altipinnis Clark, 1980. Zootaxa 3152:36–60
Motomura H, Harazaki S, Hardy G (2005) A new species of triplefin (Perciformes: Tripterygiidae), Enneapterygius senoui, from Japan with a discussion of its in situ colour pattern. Aqua 10:5–14
Motomura H, Ota R, Meguro M, Tashiro S (2015) Enneapterygius phoenicosoma, a new species of triplefin (Tripterygiidae) from the western Pacific Ocean. Species Divers 20:1–12
Rüppell WPES (1835) Neue Wirbelthiere zu der Fauna von Abyssinien gehörig. Fische des Rothen Meeres. Siegmund Schmerber, Frankfurt-am-Main
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to T. Kawamoto for collecting the holotype of E. velatus and T. Katano (Okinawa Diving Center) for providing underwater photograph of the species. We also appreciate M. McGrouther (AMS), K. Hagiwara (YCM), and M. Allen and G. Moore (WAM) for opportunities to examine specimens. We especially thank G. Hardy (Ngunguru, New Zealand) for English corrections and helpful comments on the manuscript. This study was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows (DC2: 16J09608) to the first author; JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP26241027, JP24370041, JP23580259, and JP26450265; the JSPS Core-to-Core Program: B Asia-Africa Science Platforms; the “Biological Properties of Biodiversity Hotspots in Japan” project of the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tsukuba, Japan; “Establishment of Research and Education Network on Biodiversity and Its Conservation in the Satsunan Islands” project of Kagoshima University adopted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan; and the “Island Research” project by Kagoshima University.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This article was registered in the Official Register of Zoological Nomenclature (ZooBank) as E0D23700-1130-4F06-AD2D-3660FB583C95.
This article was published as an Online First article on the online publication date shown on this page. The article should be cited by using the doi number.
About this article
Cite this article
Tashiro, S., Senou, H. & Motomura, H. Enneapterygius velatus, a new deepwater triplefin (Perciformes: Tripterygiidae) from the Ryukyu Islands, southern Japan. Ichthyol Res 65, 346–352 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-018-0617-8
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-018-0617-8