Emmelichthys marisrubri, Fricke & Golani & Appelbaum-Golani, 2014

Fricke, Ronald, Golani, Daniel & Appelbaum-Golani, Brenda, 2014, Emmelichthys marisrubri, a new rover from the southern Red Sea (Teleostei: Emmelichthyidae), Cybium 38 (2), pp. 83-87 : 84-86

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.26028/cybium/2014-382-001

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03D387BE-2F69-DC78-FF02-B0EFFC127DD6

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Emmelichthys marisrubri
status

sp. nov.

Emmelichthys marisrubri View in CoL new species

( Figs 1, 2 View Figure 2 )

Material

Holotype. - HUJF 5132 (74.4 mm SL), Eritrea, Red Sea, Adam Ben-Tuvia , trawl, 1 Dec. 1957.

Paratypes. - HUJF 20199 , 1 specimen (69.8 mm SL), and USNM 410584 About USNM , 1 specimen (69.6 mm SL), same data as the holotype .

Diagnosis

A species of Emmelichthys with spinous and soft-rayed portions of dorsal fin separated by a gap containing 4 or 5 short isolated spines, which are protruding over the dorsal surface of the body; dorsal-fin spines XII or XIII, dorsal-fin soft rays 8; pectoral-fin rays 18-20; lateral-line scales 80-83; total gill rakers 26-31; depth of body 16.5-20.2% SL.

Description

Meristics and morphometrics are given in table I. Characters stated in the diagnosis are not repeated.

Dorsal fin with XII (XIII) spines and 8 (8) soft rays; anterior 8 (8) spines connected by membrane, but penultimate 4 (5) with a short membrane behind each spine, not connected to following spines; membrane of last spine connected to first soft ray. Anal fin with III spines and 10 (11) soft rays. Last dorsal and anal rays not prolonged. Pectoral-fin rays 18 (18, 20), all but upper two and lowermost ray branched; length of uppermost ray three-fifths that of adjoining ray.

Body and head, except for a narrow median dorsal region next to upper lip, completely covered with ctenoid scales; 7 (8, 9) scales from middle of spinous dorsal fin to lateral line; 80 (81, 83) pored lateral-line scales; 8 (8, 9) scales from dorsal-fin origin, and 16 (17, 18) from anal-fin origin, to lateral line; 5 (5, 6) oblique rows of scales on maxilla; 30 (30, 32) circum-peduncular scales. Soft dorsal and anal fins with scaly sheath at base, broadening on last few rays to nearly full length of rays; no scales on spinous dorsal fin or above basal sheath of soft dorsal and anal fins; pectoral fins scaled basally for 1/8 of the length; ventral side of pelvic fin rays with two rows of small scales; caudal fin with small scales on median basal fleshy part and proximally on rays.

Body depth 5.0 (5.5-6.0), head length 3.5 (3.5, 3.6) in SL; body depth/width = 1.8 (1.5, 1.7); orbit 3.5 (4.1) in head length, greater than snout length and interorbital width. Nostrils small, subequal, about two nostril diameters apart; anterior nostril with a small flap on rear margin not reaching posterior nostril. Maxilla reaching or almost reaching vertical at front edge of orbit. Rear edge of opercle with 2 flat spines. No teeth on vomer or palatines; a few tiny teeth in one row at front of jaws, those of upper jaw extremely small or absent. Gill-rakers 10 + 21 (8 or 9 + 18 or 20); longest gill-raker shorter than longest gill filament.

Pectoral fins reaching to vertical at tips of pelvic fins; pelvic fins short, reaching slightly less than 1/2 distance from their origin to anus; pelvic fin origin slightly posterior to base of pectorals, but anterior to dorsal-fin origin. Anal-fin origin anterior to vertical at first soft dorsal-fin ray. No fin rays produced. Anus well in advance of anal-fin origin; distance from anus to anal-fin origin about 1/2 orbit diameter.

Colouration in preservative (see Fig. 1). Head and body uniformly brownish, eye dark gray.

Distribution

Southern Red Sea ( Eritrea). The new species is known only from the type series .

Etymology

Mare (Latin) means Sea, ruber (Latin) means red; Mare ruber is the Latin name of the Red Sea. The name of the new species refers to the distribution in the Red Sea.

Comparison

Emmelichthys marisrubri differs from E. cyanescens and E. nitidus in its 8 dorsal-fin spines which are connected by a membrane (9 or 10 in E. cyanescens and E. nitidus ), 4 or 5 free posterior dorsal-fin spines (2 or 3 in E. cyanescens and E. nitidus ), 8 dorsal-fin soft rays (9 or 10 in E. cyanescens , 9-11 in E. nitidus ), 18-20 pectoral-fin rays (22 in E. cyanescens ), 26-31 total gill rakers (39-42 in E. cyanescens , 37-43 in E. nitidus ), and 80-83 lateral-line scales (87-98 in E. nitidus , 100-105 in E. cyanescens ); it is distinguished from E. elongatus by 4 or 5 free posterior dorsal-fin spines (3 in E. elongatus ), 8 dorsal-fin soft rays (9 or 10 in E. elongatus ), 26-31 total gill rakers (34-38 in E. elongatus ), 80-83 lateral-line scales (61-68 in E. elongatus ), and the orbit diameter 3.5-4.1 in head length (2.8-3.1 in E. elongatus ); it differs from E. karnellai in its protruding posterior dorsal-fin spines (embedded in E. karnellai ), 8 dorsal-fin soft rays (10 or 11 in E. karnellai ), 18-20 pectoral-fin rays (21-23 in E. karnellai ), 26-31 total gill rakers (37-43 in E. karnellai ), head length 3.5-3.6 in SL (3.7-3.9 in E. karnellai ), and the orbit diameter 3.5-4.1 in head length (2.7-3.2 in E. karnellai ); from E. ruber in having 4 or 5 spines protruding (vestigial in E. ruber ), in 8 dorsal-fin soft rays (9-11 in E. ruber ), 26-31 total gill rakers (33-38 in E. ruber ), 80-83 lateral-line scales (71-74 in E. ruber ), head length 3.5-3.6 in SL (3.7-4.0 in E. ruber ), and the orbit diameter 3.5-4.1 in head length (2.6-3.0 in E. ruber ); and from E. struhsakeri in 4 or 5 free posterior dorsal-fin spines (1-3 in E. struhsakeri ), 8 dorsal-fin soft rays (10-12 in E. struhsakeri ), 26-31 total gill rakers (34-41 in E. struhsakeri ), and 80-83 lateral-line scales (68- 76 in E. struhsakeri ).

The principal meristics and morphometrics of the species of Emmelichthys are compared in table II. A key to the species of Emmelichthys is presented below, updated from the key by Heemstra and Randall (1977).

Remarks

This is the first record of the family Emmelichthyidae and the genus Emmelichthys from the Red Sea; the genus is so far unknown from most of the Indian Ocean (except South Africa). The habitat, and even the depth of collection of the new species remain unknown; the only known information is that the type series was trawled, probably above soft bottom.

Darwin Core Archive (for parent article) View in SIBiLS Plain XML RDF