Centropomus pectinatus Poey, 1860

Figueiredo-Filho, Jessé Miranda De, Marceniuk, Alexandre P., Feijó, Anderson, Siccha-Ramirez, Raquel, Ribeiro, Giovana S., Oliveira, Claudio & Rosa, Ricardo S., 2021, Taxonomy of Centropomus Lacépède, 1802 (Perciformes: Centropomidae), with focus on the Atlantic species of the genus, Zootaxa 4942 (3), pp. 301-338 : 325-326

Centropomus pectinatus Poey, 1860

( Figure 15 )

Centropomus pectinatus Poey, 1860: 121 (original description; Havana, Cuba)

Centropomus pedimacula Poey, 1860: 122

Centropomus cuvieri Bocourt, 1868: 91

Type. CAS-SU 1602, 188 mm SL ( Fig. 15 ), loc.: Havana, Cuba .

The original description of C. pectinatus by Poey (1860) is based on a 310 mm TL specimen. However, Rivas (1986) stated that no specimen that agrees with the original description could be found in MCZ, USNM, or any other museum. The neotype (CAS-SU 1602) designated by Rivas (1986) is a specimen from Havana, Cuba, 188 mm SL, deposited in the California Academy of Sciences.

Diagnosis. Centropomus pectinatus differs from its congeners as follows:

Western Atlantic: from C. undecimalis , by having 47–52 scales on lateral line to caudal-fin base (vs 66–75), 14–16 lower limb gill rakers on first arch (vs 8–11), 20–23 gill rakers on first arch (vs 11–14), the longest anal-fin spine usually reaching caudal-fin base when adpressed (vs longest anal-fin spine not reaching caudal-fin base), pelvic fin reaching the anus (vs pelvic fin not reaching anus), a less elongate and higher body, with a mean body height of 26.6% SL (vs more elongate and lower body, mean body height 22.9% SL), and anal fin with III,8 (vs III,7); from C. irae , by having 47–52 scales on lateral line to caudal-fin base (vs 79–96), 14–16 lower limb gill rakers on first arch (vs 7–8), 20–23 gill rakers on first arch (vs 11–13), the longest anal-fin spine usually reaching caudal-fin base when adpressed (vs longest anal-fin spine not reaching caudal-fin base), pelvic fin reaching the anus (vs pelvic fin not reaching anus), a less elongate and higher body, with a mean body height of 26.6% SL (vs more elongate and lower body, mean body height 22.3% SL), and anal fin with III,8 (vs III,7); from C. parallelus , by having 47–52 scales on lateral line to caudal-fin base (vs 64–70), 14–16 lower limb gill rakers on first arch (vs 10–13), 20–23 gill rakers on first arch (vs 13–18), and anal fin with III,8 (vs III,7); from C. ensiferus , by having 47–52 scales on lateral line to caudal-fin base (vs 48–58), 14–16 lower limb gill rakers on first arch (vs 10–15), 20–23 gill rakers on first arch (vs 15–20), the third anal-fin spine longer than the second, reaching caudal-fin base when adpressed (vs second anal-fin spine longer than the third, reaching caudal-fin base), pelvic fin reaching the anus (vs pelvic fin usually not reaching anus), and anal fin with III,8 (vs III,7); from C. poeyi , by having 47–52 scales on lateral line to caudal-fin base (vs 69–74), 14–16 lower limb gill rakers on first arch (vs 9–12), 20–23 gill rakers on first arch (vs 15–18), pelvic fin reaching the anus (vs pelvic fin not reaching anus), anal fin with III,8 (vs III,7), and second dorsal fin with I,11 (vs I,9).

Eastern Pacific: from C. nigrescens , by having 47–52 scales on lateral line to caudal-fin base (vs 68–76), 14–16 lower limb gill rakers on first arch (vs 8–9); 20–23 gill rakers on first arch (vs 11–14), the longest anal-fin spine usually reaching caudal-fin base when adpressed (vs longest anal-fin spine not reaching caudal-fin base), and anal fin with III,8 (vs III,7); from C. viridis , by having 47–52 scales on lateral line to caudal-fin base (vs 67–75), 14–16 lower limb gill rakers on first arch (vs 9–12); 20–23 gill rakers on first arch (vs 14–15), the longest anal-fin spine usually reaching caudal-fin base when adpressed (vs longest anal-fin spine not reaching caudal-fin base), anal fin with III,8 (vs III,7), and second dorsal fin with I,11 (vs I,9); from C. armatus , by having 47–52 scales on lateral line to caudal-fin base (vs 47–59), 14–16 lower limb gill rakers on first arch (vs 11–12); 20–23 gill rakers on first arch (vs 15–17), the third anal-fin spine longer than the second, reaching caudal-fin base when adpressed (vs second anal-fin spine longer than the third, reaching caudal-fin base), and anal fin with III,8 (vs III,7); from C. robalito , by having 47–52 scales on lateral line to caudal-fin base (vs 47–59), 20–23 gill rakers on first arch (vs 21–25), the third anal-fin spine longer than the second, reaching caudal-fin base when adpressed (vs second anal-fin spine longer than the third, reaching caudal-fin base), and anal fin with III,8 (vs III,7); from C. unionensis , by having 14–16 lower limb gill rakers on first arch (vs 10–14); 20–23 gill rakers on first arch (vs 15–20), the longest anal-fin spine usually reaching caudal-fin base when adpressed (vs longest anal-fin spine not reaching caudal-fin base), anal fin with III,8 (vs III,7), and second dorsal fin with I,11 (vs I,9); from C. medius , by having 47–52 scales on lateral line to caudal-fin base (vs 53–65), and the longest anal-fin spine usually reaching caudal-fin base when adpressed (vs longest anal-fin spine not reaching caudal-fin base).

Molecular data. Specimens of C. pectinatus form a strongly supported cluster, with 100% bootstrap value, in the COI sequences analysis ( Figure 8 ). The genetic distance between C. pectinatus and other species of Centropomus ranged from 0.047 to 0.190 ( Table 7). The genetic analyses indicate that C. pectinatus is the sister group of C. medius .

Description. Morphometrics and meristics data are summarized in Tables 8, 9 and 10 on the basis of 14 specimens, 63.7–259.9 mm TL (191.3 mm average). Body slightly elongate, body moderately high, mean body height 26.6% SL (24.4%–29.9%); head moderately long, mean head length 36.9% SL (34.2%–42.8%); head moderately high, mean head height 22.9% SL (19.3%–25.4%); largest specimen measured 196.5 mm SL. Lower jaw protractile, longer than upper jaw, extending beyond tip of snout. Snout narrow and long, mean snout length 12.0% SL (10.7%–13.3%); eye medium, mean orbital diameter 19.4% HL. Preoperculum heavily serrated in adults; operculum smooth, without spines, bordered by a membrane that extends beyond origin of pectoral fin; 3–5 small spines in dorsal part of operculum.

Dorsal fins separated by a small gap, not connected by membrane, first dorsal fin always VIII, second dorsal fin I,11. Pectoral fin with 13–15 rays, longest ray extending beyond origin of pelvic fin. Pelvic fin I,5, longest ray usually reaching anus. Anal fin III,8, third spine longer than second spine, usually reaching caudal-fin base when close to body (adpressed). Caudal fin deeply forked. Lateral line with ctenoid scales, extending onto caudal fin. Lateral line with 47–52 scales to caudal-fin base, 50–56 scales extending onto end of caudal fin. Scale rows between lateral line and origin of second dorsal fin 8–10; scale rows between lateral line and origin of anal fin 9–12. 14–16 lower limb gill rakers on first arch; 20–23 gill rakers on first arch, excluding rudiments; 19–21 gill rakers on second arch, including rudiments.

Distribution. Centropomus pectinatus occurs from south Florida, Gulf of Mexico, Antilles, to Paraná, Brazil. The record of C. pectinatus in the Pacific (CAS-SU 2952) is erroneous, since the material examined herein and literature records strongly indicate that the species is restricted to the Western Atlantic.

Figures

FIGURE 8. Best maximum likelihood tree of Centropomus species elaborated with partial COI sequences. Numbers in the branches represent the percentage of occurrence of each group in 1000 pseudoreplicates by bootstrap. Values lower than 50% are not showed. Log likelihood = -3507.12.

FIGURE 15. Neotype of Centropomus pectinatus Poey, 1860, CAS-SU 1602, 188 mm SL. Photo: California Academy of Sciences Collection Database at http://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/types/index.asp.