Malacoctenus brunoi Guimarães, Nunan & Gasparini, 2010

Carvalho-Filho, Alfredo, Sazima, Ivan, Lima, Sergio Maia Queiroz, Almeida, Daniel, Mendes, Liana, Dias, Ricardo Marques, Britto, Marcelo R. & Gasparini, João Luiz, 2020, Review of the genus Malacoctenus (Actinopterygii: Labrisomidae) from the Southwestern Atlantic, with description of two new species, Zootaxa 4819 (3), pp. 499-520 : 514-515

Malacoctenus brunoi Guimarães, Nunan & Gasparini, 2010

English Name: Trindade Scaled-Blenny

Portuguese (Brazilian) Name: Macaquinho de Trindade

(Figure 6-A)

Malacoctenus sp. Nunan 1992; Gasparini & Floeter 2001.

Malacoctenus oceanicus Guimarães et al. 2001 (nomen nudum).

Malacoctenus sp. n. Gasparini 2004.

Diagnosis. Malacoctenus brunoi can be distinguished from its southwestern Atlantic congeners by the following combination of characters: body elongated (depth 19–22 % SL versus 22–26 % SL in M. lianae sp. n. and M. zaluari sp. n., and 24–28 % SL in M. delalandii ), lateral line scales 60–66 (versus 51–53 in M. zaluari , 54–68 in M. lianae , and 48–56 in M. delalandii ), and the presence of two longitudinal rows of dark brown spots aligned on sides of body (versus presence of dark, triangular-shaped, saddle-like bars on body in M. lianae sp. n. and M. zaluari sp.n. and presence of irregular saddle-like bars in M. delalandii ).

Description: Proportional measurements and counts in Guimarães et al., (2010). Complementary description based on holotype, two paratypes and 64 non-type specimens. Body elongated. Head moderate, snout pointed, forehead steep; eye 25–30% in head length; upper lip separated from snout by deep groove; jaws subequal with about 11 pairs of pointed, slightly curved teeth; a crescent patch of villiform teeth on vomer; palatine toothless; maxillary barely reaching orbit; gill rakers on first arch 3–4 + 7–8; nasal cirrus simple or bifid (rarely triple or absent), arising from posterior border of short tube of anterior nostril and not reaching to posterior nostril when depressed; supra orbital cirri branches 3 (rarely 2 or 4) over each eye, its length varies from smaller to larger than half orbit diameter; nuchal cirri 6–8 (rarely 9) on each comb, paired or with one cirrus less, 13–18 in total, the longest reaching beyond dorsal-fin origin; space between nuchal cirri combs contained 2–3 times in comb´s base. One pore from preopercular canal onto opercle, rarely absent. Pores on ventral side of head: 3–4 mental, 1–2 symphysial and 4–6 interopercular.

Dorsal fin continuous, with three sections: first three spines decrease in length, followed by fourth to eighth or ninth spines progressively longer behind which last spines are successively shorter, the antepenultimate longer than penultimate; last spine length varying from one third to slightly less than half length of first and longest soft ray; soft rays decreasing in height, last one joined to body by a membrane for most of its length. Caudal fin slightly emarginate to slightly rounded with 11 unbranched, segmented rays, followed above and below by a single non-segmented ray and several procurrent spines. Anal fin continuous, the 16 th to 18 th rays the longest; first anal spine length 2/3 to 3/4 of second anal spine; first anal ray almost 1/3 longer than second anal-fin spine; anal-fin membrane notched at tip of each ray; last anal-fin ray not attached to body by membrane. Pectoral fin elongate, fifth or sixth lower rays usually longest. Pelvic fin second ray longer than third, not reaching anus; length of third, inner, shortest pelvic-fin ray, contained 2.5 to 3.0 times in second pelvic-fin ray.

Body covered with cycloid scales except pre-pelvic and immediate surrounding area. Head naked. Breast fully scaled in males and usually naked in females, as in the holotype; breast and belly scales much smaller than body scales. Scales on midline before dorsal fin absent; base of pectoral fin without scales; lateral line complete, running high anteriorly, down-curved below 10 th to 12 th dorsal-fin spines and straight along mid-body posteriorly. All fins naked.

Coloration. Color pattern varies considerably between individuals. Males usually more brightly colored than females.

Color in alcohol: Background varies from grey to tan, five or six dark, rarely seven, triangular saddle-like bars on body, extending to spiny dorsal fin, rarely on fin-rayed dorsal fin. Saddles vary from dark to light brown usually not outlined by dark spots; lower apices of saddles often somewhat constricted below the midline of the body. Interspaces below body-midline rarely uniformly light, often with dark irregular patches and those, with constricted lower apices of saddles, may form a horizontal row of large, irregular blotches. Lower sides of body light to tan often dark reticulated, or irregular markings. Vertical fins membranes transparent, dark, and/or pale dots on soft rays. Head peppered with dark dots or irregular blotches; snout dark often with two faint pale lines from eye to lip; two, rarely one, dark bars from eye to lower part of head. A light bordered ocellus usually present at the lower portion of the opercle, more conspicuous on males. Pre-pectoral area with faint dark irregular markings.

Color in life: Background varies from white to yellowish or light tan, head and body with many white dots (or without), often with a light green cast overall. Saddle-like bars peppered with green, orange, blue and/or red dots, brighter on males, often outlined by pale dots. Dorsum with interspaces between saddle-like bars varying from greenish to tan. Lower part of body usually with reticulations of same color as saddles, often with dark dots and/or irregular blotches. Two somewhat rectangular whitish bars or lines may be present from eye to upper lip. Eye dark often with a faint to conspicuous white area on lower border, sometimes split in two. A dark somewhat triangular spot behind eye, often with an iridescent blue lower margin, more prominent on males. Opercular ocellus outlined with a bright pale line on upper part, more colorful on males and paler on females, on which occasionally are dull to bright yellow. Top of head often with greenish, red and/or blue reticulation. Dorsal fin transparent, the soft rays of vertical fins often with dark and/or pale marks, usually arranged in series. Pelvic fins light yellow to tan on females, orangish to yellowish on males; pectoral fins pale with series of darks dots, lower-fin rays darker on females and orangish to yellowish on males.

As a final remark, we follow the hypothesis of four distinct lineages for the Malacoctenus triangulatus group (sensu Dias et al., 2019) and regard the oceanic Malacoctenus brunoi as a taxonomic entity distinct from the coastal Malacoctenus zaluari sp. n. as described herein.