Aplodactylus punctatus Valenciennes

Russell, Barry C., 2000, Review of the southern temperate ® sh family Aplodactylidae (Pisces: Perciformes), Journal of Natural History 34 (11), pp. 2157-2171 : 2166-2167

Aplodactylus punctatus Valenciennes

(®gures 2, 5)

Aplodactylus punctatus Valenciennes in Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1832: 477, p. 242 (type locality, Valparaiso, Chile).

Aplodactylus reginae Valenciennes in Gay, 1848: 158 (type locality, Chile).

Aplodactylus vermiculatus Valenciennes in Gay, 1848: 159 (type locality, Valparaiso, Chile).

Aplodactylus guttatus Valenciennes in Gay, 1848: 160 (type locality, Chile).

Haplodactylus punctatus: GuÈnther, 1859: 134 .

Haplodactylus vermiculatus: GuÈnther, 1859: 134 .

Haplodactylus guttatus: GuÈnther, 1859: 134 .

Haplodactylus reginae: Gill, 1862: 111 .

Material examined. Twenty-two specimens. Chile: Barquito, ANSP 122521 85.3mm; Iquique, BMNH 1873.4.33.44, 285 mm; Valparaiso, BMNH 1879.5.14.128, 285 mm, MNHN A. 2995, 239 mm (HOLOTYPE of Aplodactylus punctatus ), MNHN A. 2996, 143 mm (HOLOTYPE of Aplodactylus vermiculatus ), MNHN A.2997, 69 mm (HOLOTYPE of Aplodactylus guttatus ), MNHN A. 2999, 273 mm (HOLOTYPE of Aplodactylus regina ); La Ventana, SIO 65-678, 7: 123.5±220 mm. Peru: USNM 77612, 200.6 mm; USNM 83333, 243 mm; Callao, USNM 101843, 81.1 mm; San Juan Bay, USNM 128066, 194.8 mm; Vegas I., Independencias Bay, USNM 128067, 4: 201.2±231.2 mm.

Description. Dorsal-®n rays XVI, 18±XVII, 21; anal-®n rays III, 6±9; pectoral- ®n rays i, 12±14; lateral-line scales 84±112; gill rakers 4±9 1 12±15 5 17±22; vertebrae 16 1 18 5 34±35; epipleural ribs on ®rst 11±13 vertebrae.

Body elongate, greatest depth 3.0±4.0 in SL; greatest width 5.2±8.0 in SL; head length 3.5±4.6 in SL; snout short, 2.7±3.8 in head; dorsal pro®le of head obtusely angled in front of eye, snout and nape subtending an angle of about 135ss; orbital diameter 3.9±5.6 in head; interorbital space convex medially, least width of interorbital 3.2±4.3 in head; least depth of caudal peduncle 1.9±2.7 in head; peduncle length 2.1±3.5 in head; base of dorsal ®n long, with elongate notch between spinous and soft parts of ®n, basal length of soft dorsal ® n 0.9 ±1.3 in length of spinous part; anal ®n short, basal length 1.7±2.5 in head; pectoral ®n length 1.2±1.4 in head, ventral-most ®ve to six rays simple, ¯eshy; pelvic ®n length 1.2±1.6 in head, rays ¯eshy.

Mouth small, somewhat ventral on head; lips ¯eshy, upper lip projecting, maxilla reaching a vertical through posterior nostril; teeth small, tricuspid, in two to three rows in upper jaw, two rows in lower jaw, outermost row of teeth largest; small patch of vomerine teeth; two pairs of nostrils, anterior pair with ¯eshy tentaculate ¯aps on anteroventral margin and posteroventral margin; opercle with broad ¯at spine which does not extend to the ¯eshy margin; scales small, cycloid, embedded, extending on to cheeks and opercles, and forming a sheath along base of spinous dorsal ®n.

Colour in alcohol. Pale brown or whitish, with numerous irregular, dark brown spots on body and ®ns, spots coalesced and forming reticulate pattern in large specimens. Small specimens uniform brown.

Colour in life. Olive green, dotted with black spots, which sometimes coalesce to form rivulations (after Lobell in Hildebrand, 1946).

Distribution. Warm temperate waters of the west coast of South America, from Callao, Peru (12ss02¾S) ( Hildebrand, 1946) to Talcahuano, Chile (36ss41¾S) ( Mann, 1954).

Remarks. GuÈnther (1859) united A. reginae with A. punctatus . Gill (1862) retained A. punctatus , A. reginae , A. vermiculatus and A. guttatus as distinct. Evermann and RadcliOEe (1917), however, questioned the validity of A. reginae , A. vermiculatus and A. guttatus . Fowler (1942) included A. reginae as a synonym of A. punctatus and retained A. vermiculatus and A. guttatus as distinct. More recently, Bauchot and Desoutter (1989) included A. regina and A. vermiculatus as synonyms of A. punctatus , but retained A. guttatus as distinct. Examination of the holotypes of all four nominal species, however, shows them to be identical.

The name Haplodactylu s niger , proposed in a list of the ®shes of Juan Fernandez by Phillippi in Del®n (1898), is a nomen nudum. Recent collecting at Juan Fernandez has failed to reveal the presence of any species of Aplodactylus (G. Pequeno and M. Westneat, personal communication) and H. niger probably refers to either Chironemus bicornis (Steindachner) or C. del W ni (Porter) ( Chironemidae ).

Aplodactylus punctatus is the most abundant littoral species on the coast of central Chile, and occurs in close association with the brown kelp Lessonia trabeculata ( Miranda, 1973; Moreno et al., 1979; Caceres et al., 1993). Juveniles occur in tidepools to a maximum size of 157 mm TL and an estimated 3 years of age while adults occur subtidally in central Chile (Stepien, 1990). Aplodactylus punctatus is herbivorous, the diet comprising almost exclusively brown, red and green algae, with a strong preference for green and red algae (Stepien, 1990; Caceres et al., 1993). Digestion is reported to be assisted by acid hydrolysis ( Benavides et al., 1986; Caceres et al., 1993).

Reportedly`an excellent pan-®sh, with rich, white, sweet, ¯aky meat’ ( Hildebrand, 1946). Commonly known as Chuquisa ( Chile), Jerguilla ( Chile, Peru) or Nonora ( Peru).