Pristigenys refulgens ( Valenciennes 1862 )

Iwatsuki, Yukio, Matsuda, Tsuyoshi, Starnes, Wayne C., Nakabo, Tetsuji & Yoshino, Tetsuo, 2012, A valid priacanthid species, Pristigenys refulgens (Valenciennes 1862), and a redescription of P. niphonia (Cuvier in Cuvier & Valenciennes 1829) in the Indo-West Pacific (Perciformes: Priacanthidae), Zootaxa 3206, pp. 41-57 : 43-50

Pristigenys refulgens ( Valenciennes 1862)

New English Name: Blackfringe Bigeye Japanese Name: Minami-kurumadai

( Figures 2 A, 3A, 4, 5A–C, 6A, 7A)

Myripristis refulgens Valenciennes 1862: 1169 (type locality: Seychelles); Sauvage 1891: 129, pl. 5, fig. 5 ( Madagascar); Bauchot 1970: 47 ( Seychelles); Bauchot & Desoutter 1987: 83 ( Seychelles); Starnes 1988: 140 ( Seychelles); Fricke 1999: 223 (Mascarene Islands).

Priacanthus meyeri (not of Günther); Sauvage 1882: 168 ( Réunion); Sauvage 1891: 131 ( Réunion).

Pseudopriacanthus niphonius ; Smith 1966: 51 (southeastern Africa); Weber & de Beaufort 1929: 390 (in part, Sulawesi, Japan, Réunion and Bourbon); Smith 1966: 51 (southeastern Africa).

Pristigenys niphonia ; Abe 1963: 102 ( Japan); Smith 1966: 97, fig. 1, pl. 1 ( South Africa); Shimizu 1976: 94, fig. E.Afr 54 (East coast of Africa); Kyushin et al. 1977: 244, unnumbered color photograph (Andaman Sea); Kyushin et al. 1982: 188, unnumbered color photograph (South China Sea); Starnes 1984: 3 (Western Indian Ocean); Yoshino 1984: 143, pl. 128-G (Ryukyu Is., Japan); Heemstra 1986: 546, fig. 174.4 ( South Africa); Starnes 1988: 140, pl I-b (in part; Japan); Yoshino 1988: 143, pl. 128-G (Ryukyu Islands, Japan); Paxton et al. 1989: 543 ( Australia); Baranes & Golani 1993: 307 (Red Sea); Goren & Dor 1994: 29 (Red Sea); Mohsin & Ambak 1996: 255 ( Malaysia); Allen 1997: 100 (Western Australia); Fricke 1999: 223 (Mascarene Islands); Starnes 1984: 3 (Western Indian Ocean); Starnes 1999: 2601, unnumbered figure (in part, Indo-West Pacific, figure identifiable as P. refulgens ); Starnes in Randall & Lim 2000: 612 (?in part, South China Sea); Hayashi 2000; 749 (in part, Indo-West Pacific); Hutchins 2001: 31 (Western Australia); Hayashi 2002; 749 (southern Japan, Ryukyu Islands; Indo-West Pacific); Choi et al. 2002: 283 ( Korea); Myers & Donaldson 2003: 623 ( Mariana Islands); Chen 2003: 81 (Penghu, Taiwan); Nair & Geetha 2006: 263, fig. 1 (off Kerala, India); Iwatsuki 2009: 102 (Andaman Sea).

Pristigenys niphonius: Dor 1984: 110 (Red Sea) .

Pristigenys sp.; Yamada et al. 2007: 602, pl. 29-3 (East China Sea, off Japan).

Holotype: MNHN 2590, 274 mm SL (X), Seychelles.

Non-type specimens: 24−265 mm SL, n =30. FAKU 44577–44581, 5 specimens 179–265 mm SL (X), Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, Japan; HUMZ 87337, 191 mm SL (X), southwestern side of Spratly Islands, South China Sea (7°19'N, 109°29.5'E); HUMZ 87373, 195 mm SL (X), western side of Spratly Islands, South China Sea (8°13.2'N, 110°34'E); HUMZ 87526, 175 mm SL (X), South China Sea; HUMZ 87592, 177 mm SL, southwestern side of Spratly Islands, South China Sea (7°46.5'N, 109°55'E); HUMZ 90042–90043, 178– 197 mm SL (X), Andaman Sea (9°27.5'N, 97°29'E), Indian Ocean; MUFS 15720, 211 mm SL (X), Meitsu, Nango, Miyazaki, Kyushu Island, Japan; MUFS 17997, 213 mm SL (X), off Okinawa Island, Ryukyu Is., Japan; RUSI 2654, 180 mm SL, Algoa Bay, South Africa; RUSI 5762, 174 mm SL, South Africa; RUSI 11436, 125− 178 mm SL (X), 2 specimens, precise locality unknown but South Africa; RUSI 11437, 156 mm SL, Maputo, Mozambique; RUSI 27199, 200 mm SL, Umhlanga Rocks, 42 m depth, Natal, South Africa; RUSI 39804, 24 mm SL, correct locality unknown but South Africa; RUSI 43536, 196 mm SL, correct locality unknown but South Africa; SAM 34275, 198 mm SL, Mozambique; SAM 34276, 198 mm SL, 180 m, off Inhanebane, Mozambique (23°08'S, 35°42'E); SAM 34277, 182 mm SL, Mozambique; URM-P 7268, 198 mm SL (X), off Okinawa Island, Ryukyu Is., Japan; URM-P 8256, 214 mm SL (X), Itoman, Okinawa Islands, Ryukyu Islands, Japan; URM 24823, 230 mm SL (X), Okinawa, Japan; URM-P 34754, 197 mm SL, off Okinawa Island, Ryukyu Is., Japan; ZRC 3905−3906, 2 specimens, 187−202 mm SL (X), Andaman Sea.

Diagnosis: Distinguished from other species of Pristigenys by the following combination of characters: dorsal fin with ten spines and 11 soft rays; anal fin with three spines and ten soft rays; total gill rakers on first arch 23–26, mode 24 (6–9 on upper limb, 16–18 on lower limb); lateral-line scales 31–37, mode 33 ( Tables 1 –2); body scales above pectoral fin with about 11–40 spinules on posterior margin, numbers increasing with growth up to about 200 mm SL ( Figure 8 ); caudal fin rounded in young and adults ( Figures 2 A, 3A, 5A-C, 6A); posterior soft portions of vertical fins hyaline reddish with black margins, width about 1/4 of pupil diameter in fresh specimens (usually evident in preservation ( Figures 2 A, 3A, 6A); five white or pale relatively narrow vertical bands on body, the third around 1/4–2/5 width of pupil, somewhat expanded dorsally and ventrally, and relatively vertical throughout, including dorsal and ventral extremities.

Description: Counts and measurements of the holotype and 30 non-type specimens are given in Table 1 . Characters stated in the diagnosis are not repeated.

Pristigenys refulgens Pristigenys niphonia

continued next page * In Pristigenys niphonia , the asterisk data are based only for a neotype and 38 non-type specimens (A) of Pristigenys niphonia in proportional measurements but other data without asterisk are based on both 38 specimens (including a neotype) and 54 nontype specimens (B) of Pristigenys niphonia in counts and proportional measurements.

Body considerably deep (holotype with somewhat slender body due to dry mount distortion, Figure 4 , see Remarks), compressed (holotype distorted, overly thick), and covered with extremely adherent, rough, spiny scales on body, interorbital, maxillary, cheeks, and branchiostegals; spinules on posterior margins of body scales sharply pointed, somewhat strong and thick, and increasing in number with growth ( Figures 7 A, 8); eyes very large; mouth large, oblique; maxillary expanded posteriorly, reaching to a vertical just behind anterior margin of pupil; teeth on jaws villiform in wide bands, outer series on upper jaw somewhat enlarged and slightly long; interorbital space narrow; posterior nostril widely open, triangular in shape; scaled rows on membrane of each lower and anterior branchiostegal bone; prominent (in young) to remnant spine (adults) at angle of preopercle; pelvic fin insertion located anterior to pectoral fin base, broadly attached to belly by membrane and positioned in advance of pectoral fins; innermost ray of pelvic fin broadly connected to belly by membrane; vertebrae 10+13=23.

Fresh Color: Based on color photographs of specimens from Japanese waters, MUFS 15720 (off Miyazaki) and MUFS 17997 (off Okinawa) and Okinawan specimen (photographed by the late H. Masuda, fig. 1b of Starnes, 1988), Bali, Indonesia (not kept, photographed by K. Shibukawa), India (not kept, photographed by R. Nair), Red Sea (photographed from submarine by H. Fricke), and East Africa ( Shimizu 1976; 94, fig. E. Afr 54). Head, body, and fins generally red to reddish orange except dusky to black tips of pelvic fins and black margins of soft vertical fins; iris of eye red to silvery; five distinct white or pale bars on head and body, becoming narrower with growth (see more information in Diagnosis); dorsal-fin spines and anterior halves of their membranes somewhat reddish pink or creamy pink; pectoral fin reddish or pinkish hyaline.

Color in preserved specimens: head and body light yellow or dark tan; blackish fin coloration as above, in fresh color; five light vertical bands on body faint, sometimes indiscernible, especially in older preserved material.

Distribution: Pristigenys refulgens is widely distributed in the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific ( Figure 9 ), including South Africa, Mozambique Channel, eastern coast of Africa, ( Shimizu, 1976), Reunion and Seychelles ( Valenciennes 1862; Smith 1966), Red Sea ( Goren & Dor 1994; D. Golani and H. Fricke per. comm.) and off Cochin, India (Day 1875; R. Nair, based on a color photographs, per. comm.), and Andaman Sea ( Kyushin et al. 1977: 244). In western Pacific, known from Bali, Indonesia (K. Shibukawa per. comm.), South China Sea between Vietnam and Brunei, northward to the Ryukyu Islands, Japan, and rarely Miyazaki, Wakayama Prefecture (second author’s confirmation), and Mie (S. Kimura per. comm.) of Pacific coast of Honshu Islands, Japan.

Remarks: The holotype (MNHN 2590) of Myripristis refulgens Valenciennes 1862 was formerly a mounted dry specimen (P. Provost per. comm.), subsequently maintained in 70% ethyl-alcohol. The body is inflated, particularly anteriorly, with broken fins, and much deformed (see Figure 4 ) compared with a typical P. refulgens ( Figure 2 A); it is the largest known specimen for the species at 274 mm SL. However, despite its condition, meristic and most morphometric characters correspond well with those of the non-type specimens here accorded to P. refulgens (see Table 1 ), especially in the lower counts of pored lateral-line scales (32), total gill rakers (25), and spinules on posterior margin of body scale (mean 23). The number of spinules increases in specimens up to around 200 mm SL ( Figure 8 ) and then, gradually decreases with growth. Mid-lateral body scales in specimens of over 200 mm SL become considerably thickened compared with abdominal and dorsal body scales and spinules become difficult to count, as in the holotype. Based on the congruency of these characters with modern materials representing the black-margined fin form, plus, so far as known, the exclusive occurrence of this form in the Indian Ocean encompassing the type locality of P. refulgens , we conclude they are synonymous and that P. refulgens is the sole applicable name.

To further discuss live coloration, in P. refulgens ( Figure 3 A), we have thus far not observed the yolk-shaped, bifurcated light bar that occurs on the upper opercle and nape of smaller specimens of similar sized specimens herein referred to as P. niphonia ( Figure 3 B). If, after acquisition of further life color data, this absence proves consistent, then it provides another diagnostic character between these broadly parapatric species.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Color photographs of Pristigensy refulgens (A) and P. niphonia (B). A, MUFS 17997, 213 mm SL (X), off Okinawa Island, Ryukyu Is., Japan; B, MUFS 36263, neotype, 168 mm SL, southwestern region of Nagasaki Bay (31 ° 55 ' N, 128 ° 11 ' E), Kyushu Island, Japan, coll. K. Hidaka.

FIGURE 3. Color photographs of Pristigensy refulgens (A) from Red Sea and P. niphonia (B – D) from western Pacific. A), collected from southern Red Sea, probably 60 – 80 mm SL, photographed by H. Fricke on submarine; B), Osesaki, western Izu Peninsula, Shizuoka, Suruga Bay, Southern Japan, ca. 100 mm SL, photographed by S. Ueshima at a depth of ca. 10 m; C), collected northwestern Australia, CSIRO B 2174, ca. 60 mm SL; D), collected from Australia, CSIRO CA 410 (Sainsbury et al. 1985), 180 mm in total length.

FIGURE 4. Holotype of P. refulgens. A), MNHN 2590, 274 mm SL, Seychelles, a formerly mounted specimen.

FIGURE 7. Spinules of lateral body scales. A, Pristigenys refulgens, URM-P 34754, 197 mm SL, off Okinawa Island, Ryukyu Islands, Japan; B, P. niphonia, URM-P 33698, 192 mm SL, East China Sea.

FIGURE 8. Relationship between the number of spinules on the body scales (Fig. 1) and standard length in Pristigenys refulgens (triangles) and P. niphonia (squares).

FIGURE 9. Distribution of Pristigenys refulgens and P. niphonia in the Indo-West Pacific. Dark symbols are based on specimens examined in this study, open symbols on references and / or photographs.

Tables

TABLE 1. Counts and proportional measurements of the holotype and non-type specimens of Pristigenys refulgens, and the neotype and non-type specimens Pristigenys niphonia. Measurements expressed as thousandths of standard length; means in parentheses given.

Holotype of Myripristis refulgens MNHN 2590 Standard length (mm) n =1 274	Non-type specimens Neotype of Range (Mean) Priacanthus n =30 niphonia 24−230 (186) MUFS 36263 n =1 168	Non-type specimens Range (Mean) n =92 28−199 (132)
Counts:
Dorsal-fin rays X, 11	X, 11 (rarely X, 10 or X, 11 IX, 12)	X, 11
Anal-fin rays III, 10	III, 10 III, 10	III, 10
Pectoral-fin rays 18	18–19 18	17–19
Pelvic-fin rays I, 5	I, 5 I, 5	I, 5
Lateral-line scales (mean) 32	31−37 (33.9) 35	31−39 (34.7)
Scale rows above and below 11/30 lateral line (total)	10–15/25–30 13/30 (34–42 in total range)	11–15/28–33 (38–47 in total range)
Gill rakers (upper + lower including 8+17=25 a raker at angle=total)	6−9+16−18= 8+19=27 23−26	7−10+19−22= 27–31
Spinules on posterior margin of 23 body scale (mean)	11–40 41	11–60 (11–32 in juveniles and 20–60 in adults)
Measurements:
Body depth 435	4 5−650 (520) 519	491-623 (551)
Body width 254	203−307 (246) 216	183−278 (228)
Caudal peduncle length 108	114−177 (156) 161	125-184 (160)
Caudal peduncle depth 165	106−160 (126) 113	82−166 (124)
Head length 360	380−498 (415) 370	306−481 (392)
Horizontal bony orbit length 147	193−250 (221) 192	168−250 (210)
Bony interorbital width 80	60−106 (81) 89	71−108 (87)