Myripristis murdjan (Forsskål in Niebuhr 1775)

Andréfouët, Serge, Chen, Wei-Jen, Kinch, Jeff, Mana, Ralph, Russell, Barry C., Tully, Dean & White, William T., 2019, Checklist of the marine and estuarine fishes of New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea, western Pacific Ocean, with 810 new records, Zootaxa 4588 (1), pp. 1-360 : 82

Myripristis murdjan (Forsskål in Niebuhr 1775) —Pinecone soldierfish, blotcheye soldier, red soldierfish

Status at New Ireland. First recorded from Port Praslin, New Ireland as Myripristis parvidens by Cuvier (1829: 151) and Cuvier in Cuvier & Valenciennes (1829a: 173), based on MNHN A.2581 (holotype of M. parvidens ); subsequently reported as Myripristis leiognathos (in part) by Valenciennes (1855: 316). Record confirmed by Randall & Greenfield (1996: 39–40). A specimen photographed on 2 June 2013, first dive, during ACIAR Aquarium Survey at Kavieng; a video of a specimen taken south of New Hanover, at 4–51 m depth, St. KR110, in 2014 (identified by Barry C. Russell).

Distribution and habitat. New Ireland: 1, 2, 3.—General distribution: Red Sea, East and South Africa east to Wake Atoll, Midway Atoll, Samoa and Tonga, north to Ryukyu Islands, south to northern Australia and New Caledonia. Found on subtidal reef flats, channels and margins of outer reef slopes, and also on rocky reefs, hiding in holes and crevices during the day, 0–50 m depth. Marine.