Psettina variegata (Fowler, 1933)

Amaoka, Kunio & Ho, Hsuan-Ching, 2019, The lefteye flounder family Bothidae (Order Pleuronectiformes) of Taiwan, Zootaxa 4702 (1), pp. 155-215 : 207

Psettina variegata (Fowler, 1933)

Variegated flounder; ŧẻŝľ

Figure 9F ; Table 12–13

Bothus (Crossobothus) variegatus Fowler, 1934:335 (Type locality: the Philippines).

Psettina iijimae (not of Jordan & Starks): Shen in Shen et al., 1993:570.

Parabothus chlorospilus (not of Gilbert): Shen in Shen et al., 1993:571; Shen & Wu, 2012:753.

Specimens examined. NMMB-P23202 (1, 121.8), Ke-tzu-liao, 18 Mar. 2016 ; NMMB-P23203 (1, 115.7), Ke-tzuliao, 3 Apr. 2016 ; NMMB-P26401 (2 of 4, 118.6–121.9), Ke-tzu-liao, 27 Jun. 2017 .

Diagnostic features. D 101–107; A 78–82; P 12–13; C 2+13+2=17; LLs 75–77; GR 0+7–8=7–8; vert. 10+28– 29=38–39.

Body compressed, oblong, deepest at middle part of body (38.8–43.3% SL). Head rather large, about half of body depth (24.1–27.4% SL); front profile of head with shallow concavity in front of upper eye. Snout longer than 1/2 of eye diameter. Eye diameter about equal to upper jaw. Interorbital ridge extending from anterior margin of lower eye to posterior margin of upper eye.

Mouth very small, upper-jaw length on ocular side 7.1–8.9% SL; maxilla extending to anterior margin of lower eye; maxillary head with obtuse knob, a tiny knob at mandibular symphysis. Teeth on both jaws uniserial, close-set, gradually becoming large and more widely spaced anteriorly. Gill rakers on lower limb, short, slender, pointed at tip and not serrate; absent on upper limb.

Scales on ocular side small, ctenoid with one row of long hair-like ctenii; cycloid on blind side. Pectoral fin on ocular side much shorter than head (16.9–18.8% SL); that of blind side very short, about 1/2 of that of ocular side.

Coloration. Ocular side of body uniformly darkish brown with 3 large dark blotches and small, obscure, irregularly shaped black spots; first blotch on junction between curved and straight sections of lateral line, second on middle of straight section of lateral line, and posteriormost blotch near caudal peduncle; a series of 5 dark obscure blotches along dorsal margin of body and 4 along ventral margin of body, extending to bases of dorsal and anal fins; caudal fin with large black blotch at its center; pectoral fin on ocular side with irregular shaped blackish bands; blind side of body milky white stained with dark in places.

Size. Reaching 122 mm SL in Taiwan, the largest known record.

Distribution. Southwestern Taiwan off Ke-tzu-liao, Kaohsiung, at depth not more than 100 m; the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Western Australia ( Amaoka & Larson, 1999).

Remarks. This is the first record of the species in Taiwan. It resembles P. brevirictus and P. iijimae in body shape, coloration and position of blotches. However, it can be easily distinguished from the other two species in having more lateral-line scales and growing to a larger size.

The figures of Parabothus chlorospilus and Psettina iijimae provided by Shen in Shen et al. (1993) and the figure of Parabothus chlorospilus provided by Shen & Wu (2012) are here all identified as Psettina vairegata by us.

Figures

FIGURE 9. A–B. Parabothus taiwanensis, NMMB-P 25725, male, 122.3 mm SL (A) and NMMB-P 23214, female, 101.6 mm SL (B). C. Psettina gigantea, NMMB-P23236, 98.2 mm SL. D. Psettina iijimae, NMMB-P26402, 68.3 mm SL. E. Psettina tosana, NMMB-P 23211, 81.5 mm SL. F. Psettina variegata, NMMB-P23202, 121.9 mm SL.