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Description of a new species of Opistognathus (Perciformes: Opistognathidae) from the southern Japan Sea

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Abstract

Opistognathus abei sp. nov. (Perciformes: Opistognathidae) is described on the basis of two specimens (28.5–30.9 mm in standard length) collected from the Oki Islands, Shimane Prefecture, Japan, at a depth of 25–26 m. The new species is characterized by the following combination of characters: posterior end of upper jaw rigid, without flexible lamina; dorsal-fin rays XI, 13; anal-fin rays II, 13; gill rakers 8 + 16 or 17 = 24 or 25; vertebrae 10 + 18 = 28; longitudinal scale rows ca. 40–43; lateral line terminating below 2nd or 3rd soft ray of dorsal fin; cephalic sensory pores comparatively poorly developed, head sparsely covered with small cephalic pores; no scales above lateral line; body scales absent anterior to vertical below 6th or 7th dorsal-fin spine base; vomerine teeth absent; 3rd infraorbital without suborbital shelf; body generally brown, except for white belly, with two longitudinal rows of 6–9 white blotches; head region without blotches, spots, or stripes; dorsal fin generally hyaline to faint brown, with a yellowish-brown stripe through distal edge of spinous part and just below middle of soft-rayed part, and an ocellus between 2nd and 7th spines; anal and caudal fins uniformly hyaline to faint brown; pectoral-fin base with large white oval blotch; pelvic fin uniformly translucent white.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to K. Abe (Okinokuni Diving) and T. Kuwagaki (formerly Okinokuni Diving) for their assistance in collecting the type specimens of the new species. Our thanks go to G. Shinohara, S. Nomura, T. Kutsuna, and Y. Shigeta (NSMT) for their care in maintaining the micro-CT scanner and software in the National Museum of Nature and Science, Research Wing, Tsukuba District. We also thank G. Hardy (Ngunguru, New Zealand) for reading the manuscript and providing help with English. This study was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science for JSPS Fellows (PD: 22J01404).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Museum of Nature and Science, 4-1-1 Amakubo, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0005, Japan

    Kyoji Fujiwara

  2. Imperial Household Agency, 1‑1 Chiyoda, Chiyoda‑ku, Tokyo, 100‑8111, Japan

    Yuji Ikeda

Authors
  1. Kyoji Fujiwara
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  2. Yuji Ikeda
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Correspondence to Kyoji Fujiwara.

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There were no conflicts of interest relevant to this study.

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Fish species treated in this study are not listed as threatened or endangered by the IUCN Red List or CITES. Specimens registered in fish collections of natural history museums were used in the study.

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Fujiwara, K., Ikeda, Y. Description of a new species of Opistognathus (Perciformes: Opistognathidae) from the southern Japan Sea. Ichthyol Res (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-024-00951-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-024-00951-7

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