Variola louti (Forsskål in Niebuhr 1775)

Andréfouët, Serge, Chen, Wei-Jen, Kinch, Jeff, Mana, Ralph, Russell, Barry C., Tully, Dean & White, William T., 2019, Checklist of the marine and estuarine fishes of New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea, western Pacific Ocean, with 810 new records, Zootaxa 4588 (1), pp. 1-360 : 126

Variola louti (Forsskål in Niebuhr 1775) —Coronation grouper

Status at New Ireland. First recorded from New Ireland as Serranus punctulatus by Quoy & Gaimard (1834: 654– 655, pl. 3, fig. 2); reported from Ningin Island (New Ireland) and Drei Inseln Harbour (New Hanover) by Munro (1958: 167). Specimens observed by Jeff Kinch during CFMDP Survey at Kavieng fish market in 2004–2005, and by Barry C. Russell on 21 June 2014. MNHN material.

Distribution and habitat. New Ireland: 1, 2, 3.—General distribution: Red Sea, East and South Africa east to Pitcairn Group, north to southern Japan and Ogasawara Islands, south to Western Australia, Lord Howe Island and Rapa. Solitary in seaward coral reefs, 3–240 m depth. Marine.