Urophycis brasiliensis ( Kaup 1858 )

Lemes, Paola C. R., Loeb, Marina V., Santificetur, César & Melo, Marcelo R. S., 2016, Redescription of Urophycis brasiliensis (Kaup 1858), a senior synonym of Urophycis latus Miranda Ribeiro 1903 (Gadiformes: Phycidae), Zootaxa 4084 (4), pp. 507-518 : 509-515

Urophycis brasiliensis ( Kaup 1858)

Brazilian codling [English]; bacalhau-brasileiro, abrótea, abrotéa or brótea [Brazilian Portuguese]; brótola [Spanish].

( Figs. 2 A–D ; Table 2)

Phycis brasiliensis Kaup 1858:88 [type locality: Montevideo, Uruguay]; Steindachner 1883:186 [taxonomic account]; Bailly et al. 1999:237 [catalog of fish type specimens deposited in the MNHN fish collection]

Laemonema longifilis Günther 1880:13 , Pl. 7 ( Fig. 2B ) [type locality: Río de la Plata mouth, Challenger station 321, depth 13 fathoms]; Steindachner 1883:186 [treated as a junior synonym of Phycis brasiliensis ]; Berg 1895:74 [treated as a junior synonym of Phycis brasiliensis ; Cohen et al. 1990:82 [FAO catalog of the gadiform fish species of the world].

Urophycis latus Miranda Ribeiro 1903:191 [type locality: Ilha Rasa , Rio de Janeiro]. NEW SYNONYM.

Urophycis chuss (non Walbaum 1792) Miranda Ribeiro 1903:190; Miranda Ribeiro 1915:1 –3, fig 1. [erroneous citation for Brazilian waters].

Blennius brotola Larrañaga 1923:375 [type locality: Uruguay]; Devincenzi 1925:300 –301 [treated as a synonym of Urophycis brasiliensis ].

Urophycis brasiliensis Svetovidov 1948:112 [generic osteological description; key for the species; taxonomic account]; Figueiredo & Menezes 1978:45 (Fig. 75) [marine fishes of southwestern Brazil; description; illustration]; Inada in Nakamura et al. 1986:118 [new generic assignment; Patagonia]; Cohen et al. 1990:82 [FAO catalog of the gadiforms of the world]; Bailly et al. 1999:237 [catalog of fish type specimens deposited in the MNHN’s collection]; Cousseau & Perrotta 2000:70 [commented checklist of marine fishes from Argentina]; López et al. 2002:63 [list of marine fishes from Argentina]; Menezes et al. 2003:62 [catalog of marine fishes from Brazil]; Costa et al. 2007:22 [deep sea fauna biodiversity from Brazilian central coast]; Melo et al. 2010:29 [checklist of Brazilian continental slope gadiforms]; Mabragaña et al. 2011: table S2 [DNA barcoding of marine and brackish fishes from Argentina]; Fabiano et al. 2014:8 [checklist of fishes from Montevideo].

Lectotype [herein designated]. MNHN 2015-0334 (1, 331.9 mm SL), Montevideo, Uruguay, 35°48’ S; 55°01’ W [inferred coordinates], col. Alcide d'Orbigny.

Paralectotype [herein designated]. MNHN 1996-1375 (1, 366.3 mm SL), collected with lectotype.

Diagnosis. Urophycis brasiliensis can be distinguished from its congeners by the following combination of characters: third ray of first dorsal fin thicker and elongated, forming a filament with 16–45% SL (vs. third ray of first dorsal fin neither thicker, nor forming a filament in U. cirrata , U. earllii , U. floridana , U. mystacea , and U. regia ); longest filamentous pelvic-fin ray 34–61% SL, reaching well beyond anus (vs. longest filamentous pelvicfin ray 22–30% in SL, not reaching or barely reaching anus in U. chuss , U. earlli , U. floridana , U. regia , and U. tenuis ). It further differs from U. earllii , U. floridana , and U. regia by having body uniformly brown with darker pigmentation on the edge of first and second dorsals, anal, and caudal fins (vs. dark overall color with sides mottled in U. earllii ; body uniformly colored with a series of black spots on head and dashes along lateral line; and first dorsal fin with a dark blotch and distinct white margin in U. regia ); and from U. chuss , U. cirrata , U. mystacea , and U. regia by having two, rarely three, gill rakers on the upper limb of the first gill arch (vs. three, rarely two).

Description. Morphometric data summarized in Table 2. Species of Urophycis reaching 630.0 mm SL ( Andrade et al. 2005); largest specimen examined 484.0 mm SL. Body elongated, laterally compressed, caudal peduncle tapering. Greatest depth of body at level of first third of body. Head enlarged, about one fourth in SL, dorso-ventrally compressed. Upper Jaw moderateraly protusible. Upper lip with dermal flange, hiding premaxilla and dentary when closed mouth. Lower Jaw with small dermal flange, forming minute, but well defined lip. Tip of snout rounded in dorsal view. Mouth terminal; gape of mouth enlarged; posterior tip of upper Jaw reaching level of vertical that passes through posterior margin of orbit. Eyes well developed, slightly elongated anterodorsally; margin of eye free. Nares distinctly separated; distance between nares about equal to distance between posterior naris and eye; posterior margin of anterior naris expanded, forming short, tubular, fleshy rim; posterior naris slightly oval, with tubular, fleshy rim absent. Single short, finely tapered barbel present at symphysis of dentaries, its length less than half of orbit diameter.

Gill membrane united in midline, but not Joined to isthmus; gill opening extending dorsal to base of pectoral fin, to level of pupil. Gill rakers well developed; rakers on anterior row of first gill arch elongated, 2 (7) or 3 (24*) on upper limb, 9 (1), 10 (2), 11 (21*) or 12 (7) on lower limb; total gill rakers 11 (1), 13 (5), 14 (21*), 15 (4); rakers tubercular on dorsal part of first gill arch and remaining arches.

Body scales cycloid. Scales deciduous, totally or partially lost in most specimens, including types of U. brasiliensis and U. latus ; scales smaller near to first and second dorsal-fin base. Body scales absent on fin bases and interadial membrane of anal, caudal, first dorsal, pectoral, and pelvic fins; minute scales present on interadial membrane of second dorsal fin. Small scales covering dorsal part of head to level of anterior margin of eyes and nares, opercle, preopercle, infraopercle, suborpercle, and cheek to level of posterior eye margin; scales sometimes present on infraorbital area. Scales absent on snout to surrounding area of nares, lower Jaw, skin between contralateral Jaws, and gill and branchiostegal membranes. Lateral line relatively straight, gently arched on anterior half; lateral-line scales 110 (1), 114 (1), 115 (3), 116 (1), 119 (2), 120 (2), 121 (2), 123 (1), 125 (1), 126 (3), 128 (2), 129 (2), 130 (3), 132 (1), 138 (1) [not counted from MNHN specimens]. Scales above lateral line 12 (15), 13 (5), 15 (6); scales below lateral line 27 (9), 29 (4), 30 (11) [not counted from MNHN specimens]. Scales between anus and anal-fin origin absent.

Pectoral fin rounded; total pectoral-fin rays 14 (5*), 15 (6), 16 (8), 17 (9), 18 (3); two dorsalmost and one or two ventralmost pectoral-fin rays unbranched, other rays branched. Origin of pelvic fin anterior to origin of pectoral fins, under level of horizontal part of preopercle; total pelvic-fin rays 3 (31*); all rays unbranched. First (lateral) pelvic-fin ray shorter, not visible without dissection; second and third rays extremely elongated, forming filaments. Second pelvic-fin filament shorter, reaching half of third ray; third ray longest, reaching well posterior to level of anus, with 34.7 to 61.5 % in SL. All rays connected at their bases by thick skin.

Dorsal fins two, well separated from each other by distance of about half of first dorsal-fin base. First dorsalfin rays 7 (4*), 8 (6), 9 (16), 10 (4), 11 (1); all rays unbranched; third ray thicker and longest, forming elongated filament reaching vertical that passes through level of anus, 16.7–45.0 % in SL. Second dorsal-fin base elongated; total second-dorsal fin rays 51 (2*), 52 (1), 53 (2), 54 (4), 55 (4), 56 (3), 57 (5), 58 (4), 59 (2), 60 (1), 61 (2); first ray unbranched, all other rays branched. Anal fin elongated, origin of anal fin immediately posterior to anus; total anal-fin rays 41 (1), 42 (2*), 44 (1), 45 (3), 46 (1), 47 (4), 48 (10), 49 (4), 51 (2), 53 (1), five anterior rays unbranched, all other rays branched. Caudal fin rounded and well separated from second dorsal and anal fins; caudal-fin rays i+8+11+i (12); i+8+10+i (1); i+9+12+i (1); i+10+11+i (1) [not counted from MNHN specimens]. Pelvic and dorsal-fins filaments with negative allometric growth, being relatively larger in smaller specimens than larger specimens (p<0.05) ( Fig. 3 ).

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/ % 6 8 6 +. $# # $! $ $ ’ #’!/(0!! $ Precaudal vertebrae 15 (4); total vertebrae 47 (3), 46 (1). Basibranchials 7 (15) [not counted from MNHN specimens], one on epihyal, three on ceratohyal, and three on hypohyal. Pyloric cecae 14 (1), 15 (1), 19 (1), 21 (2), 23 (1), 25 (2), 26 (1), 28 (2).

Dentition. Premaxillary teeth villiform, in two bands posteriorly to five bands at midline; dentigerous area extending to distal tip of premaxilla. Dentary teeth similarly small, in two to three bands extending posterolaterally to end of rictus; dentigerous area extending posterior to tip of ascending process of dentary, posterior to gape of mouth. Palatine teeth villiform, in single drop-shaped plate, laterally wide and narrow medially; connected to each other in midline. Vomerine teeth absent.

Color. Overall color of head and body brown, darker on dorsum and generally lighter on ventral parts of head and body, yellow on belly. First and second dorsal, caudal, pectoral and anal fins slightly darker than overall body; pelvic fins lighter, almost white. Opercle with a darker elongated mark posterior to margin of preopercle. Color in alcohol similar to fresh specimens, but some specimens slightly faded. Mouth light to dusky, with widely spaced melanophores present on roof of mouth, more closely spaced on internal walls of opercle, forming dusky gill chamber; melanophores absent from gill arches. Peritoneum brownish.

Sagittae. Shape oblong to lanceolate. Anterior region oblique to angled (46.67%), oblique, oblique to peaked or oblique-round. Posterior region lanceolate-round. Dorsal edge sinuate to entire (90%) or lobed to entire. Anterior ventral edge lobed to sinuate (60%), lobed or sinuate. Posterior ventral edge sinuate to entire (56.67%) or sinuate. Profile concave-convex. Rostrum and antirostrum orientation in agreement; rostrum developed; antirostrum absent; pseudorostrum and pseudoantirostrum absent. Sulcus acusticus position supramedian; orientation ascending (86.67%) or horizontal; opening para-ostial (70%) or pseudo-ostiocaudal. Morphology archaesulcoid; and colliculum unimorphic ( Fig. 4 ).

Distribution. Urophycis brasiliensis is a demersal species, distributed on the continental shelf of the Western South Atlantic from 21º S to 38º S. It is known from the southern Espírito Santo State near to the border with Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, to the Buenos Aires Province in Northern Argentina, including Uruguay ( Fig. 5 ).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Urophycis brasiliensis: (A) Lectotype (MNHN 1996 - 1375, 331.9 mm SL); (B) holotype of Laemonema longifilis (modified from Günther 1880); (C) holotype of U. latus (MNRJ 1523, 186.4 mm SL); (D) recently collected specimen (MZUSP 118704, 392.5 mm SL).

FIGURE 3. Relationship of the (A) pelvic-fin filament (% SL, N = 31), and the (B) dorsal-fin filament (% SL, N = 28) to standard length (SL) in Urophicys brasiliensis, showing the statically significant negative allometric growth of these structures (p <0.05).

FIGURE 4. Photographs (above) and drawings (below) of the Sagitta otoliths of Urophycis brasiliensis in lateral and dorsal views (left specimen 14.5. URBR. RA 1 G. C. E 29 / L 1.3, 295.0 mm TL; right specimen 4.5. URBR. RA 1 G. CR. E 2 / L 2.1, 466.0 mm TL).

FIGURE 5. Map of known distribution of Urophycis brasiliensis. Black dots represent comparative material; green star indicates the type locality of U. brasiliensis; pink diamond, the type locality of Laemonema longifilis; and red triangle, the type locality of U. latus. Only Brazilian states in which the species occurs are indicated in the figure. Abbreviations stands as follows: ES, Espírito Santo; PR, Paraná; RJ, Rio de Janeiro; SC, Santa Catarina; SP, São Paulo; RS, Rio Grande do Sul; and WSA, western South Atlantic.