Satyrichthys welchi (Herre, 1925)

Kawai, Toshio, 2013, Revision of the peristediid genus Satyrichthys (Actinopterygii: Teleostei) with the description of a new species, S. milleri sp. nov., Zootaxa 3635 (4), pp. 419-438 : 435-437

Satyrichthys welchi (Herre, 1925)

Japanese name: Hon-oki-kihoubou ( Figure 12 ; Tables 1–5, 8)

Peristedion welchi Herre, 1925: 292 (type locality: Philippines; holotype destroyed).

Peristedion (Panichthys) picturatum lingi Whitley, 1933: 97 (type locality: Sydney).

Satyrichthys welchi: Kamohara, 1952: 8 ( Japan) ; Ochiai & Yatou, 1984: 335, pl. 302A (southern Japan to Philippines); Richards, 1999: 2363 (name listed from western central Pacific); Richards, 2000: 607 (name listed from South China Sea); Yamada, 2002: 613 (southern Japan and West Pacific); Paxton et al., 2006: 930 (name listed from Australia and tropical West Pacific); Kawai, 2008: 26 (name listed only).

Satyrichthys lingi: Paxton et al., 1989: 457 (name listed from Australia); Paxton et al., 2006: 930 (name listed from Australia); Kawai, 2008: 26 (name listed only).

Material examined: 6 specimens (131–271 mm SL). AMS IA.6690, holotype of Peristedion (Panichthys) picturatum lingi , 249 mm SL, south head of Sydney Harbor (33°51’S, 151°21’E), Australia, 5 Apr. 1933; HUMZ 58873, 1 specimen, 259 mm SL, Odawara Fish Market, Odawara, Honshu, Japan; HUMZ 87415, 1 specimen, 271 mm SL, South China Sea; HUMZ 207289, 207290, 2 specimens, 186, 131 mm SL, just north of Townsville (18°00’S, 147°01’E), Queensland, Australia, 224–228 m, 9 Jan. 1986; NSMT-P 54651, 1 specimen, 165 mm SL, Sanya Fish Harbor, Hainan, China, 4 Mar. 1997.

Diagnosis. A species of Satyrichthys with four lip and three chin barbels; many dusky spots on spinous dorsal fin; antrose spines on upper lateral bony plates of caudal peduncle; parietal bones of each side equal in size on midline.

Distribution. Japan, South China Sea, Philippines and Australia, in depth of 80– 228 m.

Remarks. Herre (1925) described Satyrichthys welchi from the Philippines based on one specimen. Unfortunately, the holotype of this species was destroyed during World War II (Yatou & Okamura 1985).

Peristedion (Panichthys) picturatum lingi was described by Whitley (1933) on the basis of the holotype and one paratype from Australian waters. Later, many ichthyologists included this species in Satyrichthys as S. lingi (e.g., Paxton et al. 1989, 2006; Kawai 2008). A comparison of the holotype of S. lingi and the original description with other material of S. welchi reveals similar meristics and relative measurements ( Table 8 ). As the original description of S. welchi is also similar to the holotype of S. lingi . I conclude that S. lingi is a junior synonym of S. welchi . Del Cerro and Lloris (1997) synonymized S. welchi with S. moluccensis without evidence. Satyrichthys welchi is easily distinguished from S. moluccensis by its four lip barbels, three chin barbels, and many dusky spots on the spinous dorsal fin [vs. three lip barbels, zero (rarely two) chin barbels and no spots in S. moluccensis ). One paratype (AMS IA.5810: Fig. 13 ) of Whitley’s species is identified as Peristedion liorhynchus (Günther, 1872) in having a combination of upper jaw teeth absent, lateral margin of head smooth, posterior pairs of bony plates in the lower lateral rows contralaterally sutured along the midline, and the rostral projections broad and spatulate (Yamada 2002; Kawai & Yabe 2006; Kawai 2008).

S. welchi S. lingi holotype non-type holotype Acknowledgments

I sincerely thank William J. Richards (National Marine Fisheries Service, Southeast Fisheries Science Center / NOAA) for his critical reading of a draft manuscript and valuable suggestions. I am grateful to Naomi Delventhal (University of Manitoba) for her English correction of early manuscript. I thank following individuals for loans or gifts of specimens, or providing access to their collections: Mark McGrouther (AMS), James Maclaine (BMNH), Hiromitsu Endo (BSKU), Yoshiaki Kai (FAKU), Mamoru Yabe, Hisashi Imamura and Kazuhiro Nakaya (Hokkaido University), Patrice Pruvost, Romain Causse, Zora Gabsi and Claude Ferrara (MNHN), Hsuan-Ching Ho (National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan), Keiichi Matsuura and Gento Shinohara (NSMT), Kiyotaka Hatooka (OMNH), Ukkrit Satapoomin and Charatsee Aungtonya (PMBC), Martien J. P. van Oijen and Ronald de Ruiter (RMNH), Koichi Hoshino and Makoto Okamoto (SNFR), TetsuoYoshino (formerly Ryukyu University: URM), Jeffrey T. Williams, Jerry Finan and Jeffrey M. Clayton (USNM), and Krishnamoorthy Venkataraman (ZSI). I also thank Fumihito Tashiro and Yuki Nagano (Hokkaido University), Yohko Takata (OMNH) and Taketeru Tomita (HUMZ) to help my examination.

Figures

FIGURE 12. Dorsal view of Satyrichthys welchi, HUMZ 207289, 186 mm SL.

FIGURE 13. Dorsal view of Peristedion liorhynchus, AMS IA. 5810, paratype of Peristedion (Panichthys) picturatum lingi, 157 mm SL.

Tables

TABLE 8. Comparison of meristic and morphometric values for specimens identifiable as Satyrichthys welchi.

Number of specimens Standard Length (mm) Measurements (% SL) Body depth Body width Head length	Herre (1925) 1 284 18.3 18.3 35.1	5 131–271 12.9–18.7 12.8–14.5 37.9–41.9	1 249 15.1 15.7 37.8
Head depth Snout length	18.3 20.0	13.3–18.4 19.8–21.2	15.2 19.4
Rostral projection length Orbital diameter Interorbital width	8.8 8.0 7.3	8.7–12.7 (n =2) 7.8–10.0 6.7–8.4	12.3 8.2 7.4
Counts
Dorsal fin rays Anal fin rays	VII, 18 18	VII, 17–19 17–18	VII, 18 17
Pectoral fin rays (including two detached rays) Bony plates in dorsal row Bony plates in upper lateral row Bony plates in lower lateral row Bony plates in ventral row Bony plates before anus	14 27* 32 21* Unknown 2	15–16 27–28 32–34 21–22 22–23 2	16 27 32 21 23 3
Gill rakers Lip barbels Chin barbels *Taken from photograph of Herre (1925).	Unknown 4* 3*	4–6+17–19 4 3	5+16 4 3