Coelorinchus vityazae Iwamoto, Shcherbachev & Marquardt, 2004

Figs. 2E–H, 5–8; Tables 1, 2, 4, 7

“ Caelorinchus sp. sensu Iwamoto & Anderson, 1994 ”: Duhamel 1999: tables 1 and 2.

Caelorinchus vityazae (in part): Iwamoto et al. 2004: 192, figs. 1 & 2 ( Walters Shoals, Southwest Indian Ridge, Amsterdam and St. Paul Is.; holotype CAS 66493) .

Holotype. CAS 66493, 64 mm HL, 277 mm TL, Walters Shoals, 33°16´42´´ S, 43°41´00´´ E, 900–920 m, R / V Vityaz-II, cruise 17. sta. 2764, 24 December 1988.

Paratypes and non-type specimens. IOM M.056–001 to 003, 3 (65–76 mm HL), Walters Shoals, 33°09´– 33°02´S, 43°41´– 43°42´E, 870–930 m, R / V Vityaz-II, cruise 17, sta. 2765, 24 December 1988 . CAS 66494, paratypes, 3 (46–55 mm HL), and IOM M.057–001 to 013, 13 (29–70 mm HL), Walters Shoals, 33°04´– 33°04´S, 43°52´– 43°54´E, 650–660 m, R / V Vityaz-II, cruise 17, sta. 2686, 12 December 1988 (four specimens (size not indicated) from this lot were listed in the original description as paratypes of C. vityazae IORAS 179; currently they cannot be separated from the rest of the sample). M.058, paratype (as IORAS 529 in the original description), 50 mm HL, Walters Shoals, 33°08´– 33°07´S, 44°04´– 44°03´E, 785– 760 m , R / V Vityaz-II, cruise 17, sta. 2708, 15 December 1988 (the station number and depth were erroneously given as 2707 and 910–925 m for this specimen in the original description). M.059, 46 mm HL, Madagascar Ridge, ~ 500–600 m, FRV Zvezda Kryma, cruise 1(6), trawl 37, 17 July 1976 . CAS 66485, paratype, 69 mm HL, and M.060–001 to 003, 3 (65–75 mm HL), Walters Shoals, 33°05´– 32°59´S, 44°26– 44°24 E, 900–940 m , R / V Vityaz-II, cruise 17, sta. 2707, 15 December 1988. M.061–001 and 002, 2 (68–73 mm HL), Walters Shoals, 33°00´– 33°07´S, 44°29´– 44°33´E, 900 m , R / V Vityaz-II, cruise 17, sta. 2706, 15 December 1988. M.062–001 to 007, 7 (64–72 mm HL), Walters Shoals, 33°36´0 S, 44°32´0 E, 950– 930 m , R / V Vityaz-II, cruise 17, sta. 2735, 19 December 1988. M.063–001 to 012, 12 (36–63 mm HL), Walters Shoals, 33°27´– 33°20´S, 44°07´– 44°06´E, 850– 740 m , R / V Vityaz-II, cruise 17, sta. 2733, 18 December 1988 (one specimen (size not indicated, as IORAS 1741) from this lot is a paratype). M.076–057, 64 mm HL, Madagascar Ridge, FRV Zvezda Kryma, cruise 7, trawl 54, 23 January 1977. M.079–001 and 002, 2 (70–77 mm HL), Madagascar Ridge, 980–1000 m, FRV Zvezda Kryma, cruise 1(6), trawl 19, 05 July 1976. M.190–001 and 002, 2 (55–62 mm HL), Madagascar Ridge, 33°08´S, 44°15´E, 870–888 m, FRV Fiolent, cruise 11, trawl 18, April 1978. M.251–001 to 005, 5 (60–73 mm HL), Walters Shoals, 33°26´– 33°30´S, 44°18´– 44°24´E, 850–870 m, R / V VityazII, cruise 17, sta. 2734, 19 December 1988 . MNHN 1989-1139, paratype, 48 mm HL, 38°48.65´S, 77°36.14´E, 410–450 m, R / V Marion Dufresne, cruise 50, sta. H22, 18 July 1986 . MNHN 1989-1140, paratype, 41 mm HL, 38°38´S, 77°29´E, 510– 485 m, R / V Marion Dufresne, cruise 50, sta. 33, 22 July 1986 . MNHN 1996-228, paratype, 71 mm HL, Southwest Indian Ridge, 41°24´S, 42°54´E, 556- 440 m , R / V Kerguelen de Tremarec, 26 February 1996 . MNHN 2000-1476, paratypes, 2 (17–48 mm HL), Walters Shoals, 33°11.4´S, 44°00.4´E, 620–635 m , R / V Marion Dufresne, cruise MD08, sta. 6, 16 March 1976 .

Note. We were unable to locate a paratype specimen listed as IORAS 174279 in the original description. The paratypes CAS 218975, LACM 44770-1 and USNM 307860 (all from Walters Shoals) were not used for the present analysis but we confirm their identity as C. vityazae .

Diagnosis. A species of the Coelorinchus fasciatus group with snout comparably longer within the group (Figs. 2E, F; 7), 32.0–38.7 % (mean 35.8 %) HL, tipped with triangular, sharply pointed terminal scute, almost always as long as broad or longer than broad, with lateral prongs, when discernible, much shorter than the medial one (Fig. 2G); underside of head completely scaleless; upper lip thicker than the lower one, with lateral portions expanded at middle (Fig. 2H); no enlarged predorsal scales; flank scales with 7–14 parallel rows of spinules (number increasing with growth); pectoral-fin rays, modally i+15 or i+16; 12–19 pyloric caeca; small oval dermal window of light organ in front of anus, one-third to one-half of pelvic-anal length; up to 11 dark saddle marks on body, anal-fin rays uniformly peppered by melanophores, looking pale by naked eye; gums and medial portion of upper lip blackish.

Description. General features of fish seen in Fig. 7. Counts: first dorsal-fin rays, II+8 [II+8–10, usually II+9]; pectoral-fin rays, i+15 [i+14–17, frequency shown in Table 1]; pelvic-fin rays, 7; gill-rakers (inner) on 1 st arch, 8 [7– 9]; gill-rakers on 2 nd arch, 8 [7–9] (outer) / 7 [7–8] (inner); transverse scale rows below origin of first dorsal fin, 4.5 [4.0–5.5, usually 4.5]; ditto, below midbase of first dorsal fin, 4.5 [3.0–4.5, usually 3.5 or 4.0]; ditto, below origin of second dorsal fin, 4.5 [3.5–4.5, rarely 3.5]; ditto, between origin of anal fin and lateral line, 12 [11–13]; lateral-line scales before origin of second dorsal fin, 13 [13–15]; pyloric caeca, 12–19 (n = 6). Measurements shown in Tables 2 and 4. Snout 2.6 [2.6–3.0] times in HL, tipped with triangular pointed terminal scute, 3.4 [3.0–6.5, usually 5.6 or less] times in snout length, armed with small conical denticles; lateral prongs of terminal scute, when discernible, much shorter than medial one (Fig. 2G). Posterior tip of maxilla ending at level of center to posterior border of pupil. Tips of outer premaxillary teeth expressed through upper-lip margin. Lips and gums finely papillose; upper lip thickened, with lateral portions distinctly expanded at middle; lower lip thin (Fig. 2H). Nasal fossa scaled along posterior and ventral margin, scaleless along anterior margin and usually in a narrow strip below nostrils. Flank scales with 7–14 rows of spinules, increasing with growth (7 to 9 rows at 36–46 mm HL, 9–14, usually 10 or more in larger specimens). Anal-fin rays uniformly peppered by melanophores, looking pale by naked eye. Orobranchial cavity dark, gums blackish; upper lip solidly pigmented in black along length of toothed portion of premaxilla. Other characters do not differ from those described for C. inventionis .

Etymology. Species was named after the Soviet research vessel Vityaz-II “on which many of the type specimens were captured” (Iwamoto et al. 2004: 195). The Russian word “vityaz (worthy) is masculine; however, we do not amend the original spelling vityazae to vityazi following Dubois (2007).

Distribution. Southwestern Indian Ocean: Madagascar and Southwest Indian submarine ridges, and off St. Paul and Amsterdam Islands (Fig. 5), at depths of 410–1000 m. This species was very abundant at bathyal depths on Walters Shoals (Madagascar Ridge) in hauls taken during the 17 th cruise of R/V Vityaz-II.