Epigonus lifouensis Okamoto & Motomura 2013

Okamoto, Makoto, Chen, Wei-Jen & Shinohara, Gento, 2018, Epigonus okamotoi (Perciformes: Epigonidae), a junior synonym of E. draco, with new distributional records for E. atherinoides and E. lifouensis in the West Pacific, Zootaxa 4476 (1), pp. 141-150 : 148

Epigonus lifouensis Okamoto & Motomura 2013

English name: Loyalty DeepWater Cardinalfish

( Fig. 4 ; Table 1)

Epigonus lifouensis OKAmOTO & MOTOmuRA, 2013: 302 , fIg. 1 (ORIgInAl dEscRIPTIOn, TyPE lOcAlITy: 21°40′59″S, 167°31′59″E, sOuTH Of LIfOu IslAnd, LOyAlTy IslAnds, NEW CAlEdOnIA, WEsTERn PAcIfIc [cOllEcTEd duRIng THE MUSORSTOM 6 ExPEdITIOn undER THE TDSB]).

Material examined. 1 specimen. South China Sea: NTUM 13374, 175.0 mm SL, 16°03′N, 113°54′E, seamount nearby the Macclesfield Bank, South China Sea, 356–410 m depth, St. CP4151, 27 July 2015, R/V OR1, ZhongSha 2015 Expedition.

Diagnosis. A species of Epigonus With the folloWing combination of characters: dorsal-fin rays VII–I, 10; pectoral-fin rays 18–19; total gill rakers 24–25; vertebrae 10 + 15; pyloric caeca 9–13; pored lateral-line scales 47– 49 + 3–5; opercular spine absent; maxillary mustache-like processes absent; ribs on last abdominal vertebra present; tongue toothless; tubercle absent on inner symphysis of loWer jaW; eye elliptical; body depth 16.2–17.1% SL; and posterior half of oral cavity and tongue black.

Distribution. KnoWn from NeW Caledonia (Okamoto & Motomura 2013) and South China Sea (present study), at depths of 356–575 m ( Fig. 2 ).

Remarks. Epigonus lifouensis Was originally described on the basis of tWo specimens collected from the south of Lifou Island, Loyalty Islands, NeW Caledonia, at depths of 500–575 m and recogniZed as a member of the E. pandionis group (Okamoto & Motomura 2013). The present specimen represents the first record of the species from the South China Sea, TaiWan. DeepWater cardinalfishes of TaiWan are represented by tWo species including the first record of E. lifouensis here reported and E. denticulatus DieuZeide, 1950 . Although Gon (2000) listed E. macrops (Brauer 1906) in the checklist of the fishes of the South China Sea, it may be a misidentification (see Okamoto & Nakayama 2016). It should be noted that the specimens available to date Were collected at a ridge nearby remote islands or a seamount rather than on the continental slope, suggesting a particular habitat of the species.

Figures

FIGURE 2. DIsTRIbuTIOnAl REcORds Of Epigonus draco (OPEn TRIAnglEs = PREvIOus sTudIEs And AddITIOnAl sPEcImEns In PREsEnT sTudy; sOlId TRIAnglE = TyPE lOcAlITy Of E. okamotoi), E. atherinoides (OPEn sTARs = PREvIOus sTudIEs; sOlId sTARs = PREsEnT sTudy), And E. lifouensis (OPEn cIRclE = TyPE lOcAlITy; sOlId cIRclE = PREsEnT sTudy) In WEsTERn PAcIfIc OcEAn.

FIGURE 4. Epigonus lifouensis, NTUM 13374, 175.0 mm SL, fREsH sPEcImEn, SOuTH CHInA SEA.