Upeneus brevignathus, Uiblein & Williams & Bailly & Hoang & Rajan, 2024

Uiblein, Franz, Williams, Jeffrey T., Bailly, Nicolas, Hoang, Tuan A. & Rajan, P. Thomas, 2024, Four new goatfishes (Upeneus, Mullidae, Mulliformes) from the Asian Indo-Pacific with a list of valid goatfish species and remarks on goatfish diversity, Cybium 48 (2), pp. 135-160 : 144-145

Upeneus brevignathus n. sp. Uiblein & Bailly

Short-jaw Goatfish

( Figs 3 , 4 ; Tables I, III)

Material examined

Holotype ( Fig. 3A ). NMW 74697 , 95 mm SL, Quishn, E Yemen, NW Indian Ocean, collectors M. and W. Hein, 1902.

Paratype. NMW 97688 , 95 mm SL, same sampling data as HT .

Diagnosis

Dorsal fins VII + 9; pectoral fins 14-15; gill rakers 7-8 + 21-22 = 28-30; lateral-line scales 29-30; body moderately elongate; measurements as % SL: body depth at first dorsal-fin origin 23-24; body depth at anal-fin origin 20-22; caudal-peduncle depth 9.5-9.7; caudal-peduncle width 4.0-4.1; maximum head depth 17; head depth through eye 14; head length 27; snout length 10; orbit length 6.3; upper-jaw length 9.3-9.5; barbel length 18; caudal-fin length 28; anal-fin height 16-17; pelvic-fin length 20; pectoral-fin length 19-20; pectoral-fin width 4.4-4.5; first dorsal-fin height 18-19; dorsal-fin spines proportionally decreasing in height; second dorsal-fin height 16; caudal fin of preserved fish with at least 9 total oblique bars, upper caudal-fin lobe with 5 dark-grey bars of about pupil width, the four most proximal bars variably curved, no bar on lobe tip; lower caudal-fin lobe with at least 4 dark-grey bars of pupil width or wider, three bars from ventral margin to about mid-lobe, one at lobe tip; dorsal fins with three grey stripes; barbels pale; body and head from snout tip dark brown-grey dorsally, pale brown ventrally from eye level; head with a vertically oriented silvery band behind eye that widens below eye and gill cover silvery or pale-beige silvery; no indication of mid-lateral body stripe; paired and anal fins pale-brown, partly hyaline.

Description

Measurements in % SL and counts are given in Table III; morphometric data as ratios of SL for holotype (for PT, if deviating, in square brackets): body moderately elongate; body depth at first dorsal-fin origin 4.3 [4.2]; maximum head depth 5.7 [5.8], smaller than pelvic-fin length (5.0 [5.1]), pectoral-fin length (5.1 [5.2]) and body depth at anal-fin origin (4.8 [4.6]); caudal-peduncle depth 10 [11], clearly larger than orbit length (16); caudal-peduncle width 24 [25], nearly half of interorbital length (13 [14]) and smaller than pectoral-fin width (23 [22]); head depth through eye 7.1 [7.0]; head length 3.7, larger than body depth at first dorsal-fin origin; snout length 10, clearly shorter than second dorsal-fin base (7.0 [7.3]) and anal-fin height (6.0 [6.2]); barbel length 5.5 [5.7], about twice upper jaw length (11), the latter slightly shorter than snout length (10 [9.9]); caudal-fin length 3.6; first dorsal-fin height 5.5 [5.2], larger than second dorsal-fin height (6.3 [6.4]) and smaller than maximum head depth; dorsal-fin spines proportionally decreasing in height.

Figures

Figure 3. – A: Upeneus brevignathus, NMW 74697, HT, 95 mm SL, Qishn, Yemen (NHM-NMW); B: U. asymmetricus, USNM 154659, HT, 75 mm SL, Pandanon Island, central Philippines (S.J. Raredon); C: U. asymmetricus, CSIRO H 7517-02, 93 mm SL, Lombok, S Indonesia (W.T. White); D: Upeneus elongatus, KAUM-I. 58746, HT, 89 mm SL, Tanega-shima Island, S Japan (H. Motomura); E: U. pori, SAIAB 209540, 94 mm SL, off NE Madagascar (J. Escobar-Porras); F: U. farnis, LBRC-F 1493, PT, 92 mm SL, Bitung fish market, NE Sulawesi, Indonesia (T. Peristiwady); G: U. francisi, 56 mm SL (subadult), Norfolk Island, Australia (J.E. Randall). Black and white bars indicate 2 cm length.

Figure 4. – Six selected morphological characters and SL in Upeneus andamanensis n. sp., and the two most similar species of pori-subgroup 2.