Pempheris oualensis Cuvier in Cuvier & Valenciennes 1831

Andréfouët, Serge, Chen, Wei-Jen, Kinch, Jeff, Mana, Ralph, Russell, Barry C., Tully, Dean & White, William T., 2019, Checklist of the marine and estuarine fishes of New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea, western Pacific Ocean, with 810 new records, Zootaxa 4588 (1), pp. 1-360 : 177

Pempheris oualensis Cuvier in Cuvier & Valenciennes 1831 —Copper sweeper, bronze sweeper

Status at New Ireland. First recorded from New Ireland by Allen & Erdmann (2012: 512). A specimen photographed at Lissenung Island, Kavieng District, 16 m depth, by Dean Tully on 7 July 2011.

Distribution and habitat. New Ireland: 2.—General distribution: Red Sea, East and South Africa to Line and Marquesas islands, north to Ryukyu Islands, south to Rottnest Island (Western Australia), Queensland ( Australia), Lord Howe Island and Rapa, Madagascar and western Mascarenes. Found in large schools under overhanging corals and in caves of lagoon and seaward coral reefs, 1–36 m depth. Marine.

Remark. As the genus Pempheris is currently being revised by John E. Randall and collaborators, the classification of this species is provisional and may change at a later stage.