Genus Parupeneus Bleeker, 1863

Diagnosis

Dorsal fins VIII + 9; pectoral fins 14-18; gill rakers 5-10 + 18-32 = 24-42; lateral-line scales 27-29 plus 3 on caudal-fin base. Teeth on both jaws bluntly conical, in one row, wellspaced; no teeth on vomer or palatines. Body depth 23-40% SL in adults; barbels 20-37% SL; snout length 13-20% SL, longer than postorbital length in adults. Colour pattern on head and body often diagnostic; fins usually without dark-brown or black markings, except for the second dorsal fin in a few species.

Remarks

Thirty-five species, including Parupeneus sinai n. sp. as well as the recently described P. inayatae Uiblein & Fahmi, 2018 and P. williamsi Shibuya & Motomura, 2020 . All species occur in the Indian Ocean, West Pacific and/or Central Pacific. The Red Sea goatfish P. forsskali (Fourmanoir & Guézé, 1976) occurs also in the Mediterranean as a Lessepsian migrant (Mehanna et al., 2016). With P. sinai n. sp. being added, 20 Parupeneus species occur in the Western Indian Ocean (see also Uiblein et al., 2018).