Citron Perchlet

description

Description of Australian specimen. Dorsal rays X, 15, all segmented rays branched; anal rays III, 7, all segmented rays branched; pectoral rays 15 / 15, all but upper 2 / 1 rays branched; pelvic fin I, 5, all segmented rays branched; upper procurrent caudal-fin rays 6; lower procurrent caudal-fin rays 6; principal caudal-fin rays 9 + 8; branched caudal fin rays undetermined owing to fin damage; total caudal-fin rays 29; lateral line complete with 32 / 33 tubed scales; scales above lateral line to origin of dorsal fin 2 / 3; scales above lateral line to base of fifth dorsal spine 2 / 2; scales below lateral line to origin of anal fin 13 / 13; diagonal rows of scales on cheek 6; predorsal scales 22, extending to posterior nostrils; circumpeduncular scales 12; gill rakers 6 + 12, the upper 4 and lower 3 rudiments; pseudobranchial filaments 12; branchiostegal rays 7. Vertebrae 10 + 16; supraneurals 2; predorsal formula 0 / 0 / 2 / 1 + 1; dorsal pterygiophores in interneural spaces 9 – 13 1 / 1 / 1 + 1 / 1 + 1 / 1 + 1; 8 trisegmental pterygiophores associated with dorsal fin; terminal dorsal pterygiophore in interneural space 17; 4 trisegmental pterygiophores associated with anal fin;

Review of Australian species of Plectranthias Bleeker and Selenanthias Tanaka (Teleostei: Serranidae: Anthiadinae), with descriptions of four new species

diagnosis

Diagnosis. The following combination of characters distinguishes P. megalophthalmus from congeners: dorsal rays X, 15; pectoral rays 15, all but the uppermost 1 – 2 rays branched; edge of preopercle smooth; lateral-line complete with 31 – 33 tubed scales; scales below lateral line to origin of anal fin 12 – 13.

Review of Australian species of Plectranthias Bleeker and Selenanthias Tanaka (Teleostei: Serranidae: Anthiadinae), with descriptions of four new species

discussion

Comparisons. Plectranthias megalophthalmus resembles P. lasti and P. fijiensis in having relatively small canine teeth in the jaws and a smooth preopercle. It differs from P. lasti in having more dorsal segmented rays (15 versus 14) and more scales below the lateral line to the anal origin (12 – 13 versus 9 – 10), and from P. fijiensis in pectoral ray branching (only upper 1 – 2 rays unbranched in P. megalophthalmus versus first and ninth through 12 th unbranched in P. fijiensis), the absence of scales on the mandibles (versus posterior part of mandible scaled), and a shallower body (greatest body depth 27.8 – 29.4 versus 37.2 % SL). Remarks. Although P. megalophthalmus has been previously recorded from Australia, the three North West Shelf specimens that form the basis for those records are here identified as P. lasti. We tentatively identify a specimen collected from the Marion Plateau off Queensland as P. megalophthalmus. It agrees well with Fourmanoir & Randall’s (1979) original description and figure of the species, particularly in having a smooth preopercle, no enlarged canine teeth, X, 15 dorsal rays, 15 mostly branched pectoral rays, similar numbers of lateral line scales,

Review of Australian species of Plectranthias Bleeker and Selenanthias Tanaka (Teleostei: Serranidae: Anthiadinae), with descriptions of four new species

distribution

Habitat and distribution. Known only from the holotype, trawled in 360 m off the Isle of Pines, New Caledonia, and a specimen trawled in 312 – 318 m, in the Coral Sea northeast of the Whitsunday Islands (Figure 30). Records of the species from the North West Shelf of Australia are based on the related P. lasti.

Review of Australian species of Plectranthias Bleeker and Selenanthias Tanaka (Teleostei: Serranidae: Anthiadinae), with descriptions of four new species