Antennablennius australis Fraser-Brunner, 1951

Estekani, Sanaz, Bogorodsky, Sergey V., Zajonz, Uwe, Hundt, Peter J., Siahsarvie, Roohollah & Aliabadian, Mansour, 2024, Mitochondrial DNA-based reassessment of Antennablennius Fowler (Blenniidae: Salariini) from the north-western Indian Ocean, with resurrection of A. persicus (Regan), Zootaxa 5501 (3), pp. 425-446 : 433

Antennablennius australis Fraser-Brunner, 1951

Moustache Blenny

Figure 5 , Table 3

Antennablennius australis Fraser-Brunner, 1951: 218 ( Mozambique, Delagoa Bay, Inyak; holotype: BMNH 1920.12.6.24)— Bath 1983: 50 (Red Sea, Dahlak Archipelago); Randall 1995: 313, Fig. 881 (southern Oman).

Antennablennius bifilum (non Günther)— Tortonese 1975: 185 (Gulf of Aden).

Description. Dorsal-fin rays XII,16–18 (usually 17); anal-fin rays II,16–19 (usually 17 or 18); pectoral-fin rays 14; body deep for the genus, its depth 4.0–5.0 in SL; lateral line ending below dorsal-fin spine V-VII; nasal cirrus projecting downward, usually reaching mouth; a pair of short cirri on nape; no crest on head; 26–30 teeth in upper jaw and 23–28 in lower; dorsal fin moderately notched between spinous and soft portions (slightly more than half the length of first soft ray). Size: Reaches 8.3 cm.

Coloration ( Fig. 5 ). Pale yellowish anteriorly, grading to white ventrally, with indistinct oblique dark brown bars, progressively less oblique posteriorly, becoming vertical at origin of soft portion of dorsal fin, then narrowing to midlateral blotches posteriorly; vertical pale yellow lines across body posterior to pectoral fins, becoming more irregular posteriorly and breaking into small spots ventrally; brown bars with pale green vertical lines, pale yellowish interspaces with yellowish brown lines; posterior part of body with a lateral row of irregular interconnected brown blotches with white lines, numerous close-set white spots or vermiculations dorsally and small white spots ventrally; spinous portion of dorsal fin mainly dark brown, with two broad curving pale yellow bands, and soft portion pale green, with light yellow rays and four large black blotches at base, in alignment with brown bars of body, rays passing through them pale green; anal and caudal fin pale greenish yellow, caudal-fin rays narrowly barred, anal fin with a blackish margin anteriorly.

Distribution and habitat. Reported from the southern Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and southern coast of Oman , south along east coast of Africa to South Africa (Eastern Cape Province) and Madagascar ( Bath 1983; Randall 1995; Fricke et al. 2018). The Oman and Red Sea specimens were collected from tidepools.

Remarks. Relatively rare species in the north-western part of the Indian Ocean where Bath (1983) reported the Red Sea record from ten specimens collected in the Dahlak Archipelago, Eritrea, and Randall (1995) collected two specimens from the southern Oman . Tortonese (1975) reported five specimens from the Gulf of Aden identifying them as A. bifilum . However, the length of nape cirri (“about as long as eye diameter”) and the anal-fin ray count (II,17) correspond closer to A. australis .

Material examined (n=2). Red Sea, Eritrea, Dahlak Archipelago: SMF 36382, 39.6 mm SL; SMF 36383, 38.7 mm SL.

Figures

FIGURE 5. Antennablennius australis, 57.0 mm SL, southern Oman. Photo by J.E. Randall.