Enneapterygius pallidus Clark, 1980

Holleman, Wouter & Bogorodsky, Sergey V., 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, pp. 36-60 : 48-49

Enneapterygius pallidus Clark, 1980

Figs. 2 F, 8B; table 1

Enneapterygius pallidus Clark, 1980: 107 , Figs. 4 e & 16 (Gulf of Aqaba and Eritrea, Red Sea). Holleman, 2005: 16 –17, Fig. 14, Pl. 2B; Golani & Bogorodsky, 2010: 44.

Diagnosis. Dorsal fins III + XIII–XIV + 10–11; anal fin I, 21–22; pectoral fin 13–14, some rays branched; LL 10– 11 pored scales and 26–27 notched scales; dentary pores 2 + 2 + 2 ( Fig. 2 F). Head in SL 3.4–4.7; eye diameter 3.0– 3.5 in head length; body depth 5.0–6.0 in standard length. Nape and abdomen naked; supratemporal sensory canal deeply ‘U’-shaped; supraorbital cirrus small and lobate; height of first dorsal fin about equal to or lower than second fin.

Fresh colour. Males with translucent body, shaded with greenish hue on caudal peduncle and ventrally on posterior half of body, scale borders red, with faint hourglass-shaped red bars on body and grayish green bar on posterior caudal peduncle; head greenish dorsally, whitish ventrally with brownish red stripe from upper lip to anterior margin of eye and short red bar below eye; head and body with a few scattered white speckles; eye with alternating brownish red and greenish bands; fins mostly translucent, first two membranes of first dorsal fin sometimes with whitish patch of melanophores and second dorsal fin often with patches of whitish to greenish dots forming a faint short narrow bands.

Colour underwater. Males with body translucent with greenish tinge, scale pockets outlined in red-brown, with about 10 subcutaneous brown bars below midline to A base, belly white; top of head emerald green, white below eye with brown line from eye to upper lip and cluster of brown spots below eye, iris with green and brown ‘spokes’; anterior of first dorsal fin with white and brown marks; second dorsal fin with pigment along margin third dorsal fin, caudal and anal fins without pigment; pectoral-fin rays reddish with white bands, colour on rays only; pelvic fins white. Females with paler green on head and less pigment on first dorsal fin.

Key features. Greenish anteriorly, remainder of body transparent with 8–9 narrow, faint orange bars; first dorsal fin of females lower than second, of males same height as second, and with melanophores on membrane between first two spines.

Distribution. Known only from the Red Sea; common in some areas.

Habitat. Usually seen on outer reef flats of lagoons from depths of 0.5– 5 m. Reaches 30 mm SL.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Dentary pore patterns of Red Sea species of Enneapterygius: (A) E. abeli; (B) E. altipinnis; (C) E. clarkae; (D) E. destai; (E) E. obscurus; (F) E. pallidus (diagrammatic - J. T. Williams); (G) E. pusillus; (H) E. qirmiz; (I) E. ventermaculus.

FIGURE 4. (A, B) Enneapterygius altipinnis, M, Rabigh, Saudi Arabia; (B) Enneaterygius altipinnis, F, Marsa Alam; (C, D) Enneapterygius cf tutuilae, Comoros. Photos by S. Bogorodsky (A, B); R. Winterbottom (C, D).