Aseraggodes melanostictus ( Peters, 1877 )

Randall, John E., 2005, A review of soles of the genus Aseraggodes from the South Pacific, with descriptions of seven new species and a diagnosis of Synclidopus., Memoirs of Museum Victoria 62 (2), pp. 191-212 : 204-205

Aseraggodes melanostictus ( Peters, 1877)

Figure 11 , Tables 1–3

Solea melanosticta Peters, 1877: 845

Aseraggodes melanostictus .— Randall and Bartsch, 2005: figs. 3–5 (of holotype).

Type locality. Bougainville

Diagnosis. Dorsal rays 74–75, unbranched; anal rays 53–54, unbranched; caudal rays 18 (uppermost and lowermost 2 rays simple, middle 12 double-branched); pelvic rays 5, unbranched; lateral-line scales on ocular side 78–79, including 9 anterior to a vertical at upper end of gill opening; scales of ocular side of body with 12–16 cteni; scales anteriorly on head progressively shorter, with fewer cteni, modified to small flattened papillae, each with a small flat brown cirrus in zone anteriorly on snout; no broad lappet–like cirri at front of snout or on ventral edge of head, instead cylindrical cirri of variable size, the longest less than pupil diameter; well-spaced slender cirri on opercular edge of gill opening on both sides; vertebrae 38; dorsal pterygiophores anterior to fourth neural spine 11–13; body depth 2.3–2.35 in SL; HL 4.35–4.5 in SL; snout slightly overhanging lower lip when mouth closed; lateral line directed anteriorly toward dorsal edge of upper eye; eye diameter 6.4–6.8 in HL; upper eye overlapping anterior one-half to three-fourths of lower eye; least vertical interorbital space 8.3–8.6 in HL; upper end of gill opening at level of ventral edge of lower eye; no caudal-peduncle; depth at base of caudal fin 1.5–1.65 in HL; longest dorsal ray 1.45 in HL; caudal fin rounded, 5.1–5.8 in SL; ocular-side pelvic fin on ventral edge of body, its base slightly anterior to that of fin of blind side; third pelvic ray longest, 2.0– 2.8 in HL, the tip reaching base of second anal ray; lengthwise membranous ridge on dorsal rays of both sides, progressively reduced posteriorly; small scales on about basal half of membranous ridge of anterior dorsal rays of ocular side; edge of membranous ridge of about first 15 blind-side dorsal rays with prominent cirri; colour of ocular side in alcohol light brown, the scale edges darker than centers, with faint irregular dark–edged pale markings over head and body, and very irregular dark brown blotches, most much larger than eye, the two largest on lateral line to either side of middle of body; fins with dark dots. Largest of two known specimens, 86.5 mm SL.

Remarks. Randall and Bartsch (2005) described a specimen from Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands identified as Aseraggodes melanostictus by Woods in Schultz and collaborators (1966) from Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands as a new species, A. heraldi . They illustrated an x-ray and two photographs of the holotype of melanostictus from the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin ( ZMB 9814, 74 mm SL) and listed differences from A. heraldi , notably its having unbranched dorsal and anal rays.

The holotype of A. melanostictus was collected in 73 m off the island of Bougainville. A second specimen, AMS I.24499- 003, 86.5 mm, sent on loan from the Australian Museum , is provisionally identified as this species. It was dredged in 115 m NE of North Reef of the Great Barrier Reef (23°8'S, 152°12'E) by W. Ponder et al. on 14 Dec 1977. It differs in having 13 instead of 11 dorsal pterygiophores anterior to the fourth neural spine, and in some proportional measurements, but none clearly beyond expected infraspecific variation .

Figures

Figure 11. Aseraggodes melanostictus, AMS I.24499–003, 86.5 mm, North Reef, Great Barrier Reef.