Trachinotus coppingeri Günther, 1884

Smith-Vaniz, William F. & Walsh, Stephen J., 2019, Indo-West Pacific species of Trachinotus with spots on their sides as adults, with description of a new species endemic to the Marquesas Islands (Teleostei: Carangidae), Zootaxa 4651 (1), pp. 1-37 : 21-24

Trachinotus coppingeri Günther

Swallowtail dart; Surf dart

Figures 6–8 , 13 , 17 , 18 ; Tables 1–6 , 8

Trachynotus coppingeri Günther, 1884:29 , pl. 3, fig. A (original description; Percy Island, Queensland, Australia; holotype BMNH 1881.10.12.44).

Trachinotus russellii (not of Cuvier) Waite, 1904:199 (Lord Howe Island); Stead, 1908:93, fig. 62 (New South Wales, Australia); Weber and de Beaufort, 1931:289 ( T. coppingeri and T. velox erroneously listed as synonyms); Munro, 1955:131 (pl. 22, fig. 370, after Ogilby, 1915, pl. 28); Munro, 1960:133, fig. 851 (in part, Australian records from Queensland); Munro, 1967:234, pl. 26, fig. 393 (figure 393 is a duplication of Ogilby’s 1915, plate 28 based on a specimen of T. coppingeri from Moreton Bay, New South Wales; Coleman, 1980:150, unnumbered color fig. (southern Australia).

Trachynotus russelei [sic] (not of Cuvier) Ogilby, 1916:151–152 compared with T. baillonii ); McCulloch, 1929:192 (checklist of Australian fishes) Borodin, 1932:77 ( New Caledonia).

Trachinotus velox Ogilby, 1908:14 (original description; south Passage, Queensland, Australia; holotype QM I.1536); Mc- Culloch, 1929:182 (checklist Australian fishes; listed in synonymy of T. botla ); Smith-Vaniz, 1999:2748 unnumbered fig. (Australian endemic, listed as junior synonym of T. coppingeri ).

Trachinotus coppingeri . Day, 1888:790 (listed as synonym of Trachinotus russellii ); Jordan and Seale, 1906:235 (listed as synonym of T. russelli ); Ogilby, 1915:93 (listed in synonymy of T. botla ); McCulloch, 1929:192 (checklist of Australian fishes; listed as synonym of T. botla ); Hutchins and Swainston, 1986:58, 130, fig. 289 (Queensland to New South Wales, Sydney); Paxton et al., 1989:586 (Zoological Catalogue of Australia); Francis, 1993:161 ( Australia and Lord Howe Island); Johnson, 1999:735 (Moreton Bay, Queensland); Smith-Vaniz, 1999:2748, unnumbered fig. (Queensland Australia and Lord Howe Island); Springer and Smith-Vaniz, 2008:31 (supraneural and pterygiophore insertion pattern); Fricke et al., 2011:396 (checklist; New Caledonia); McPhee et al., 1999:89 (movement patterns in Australia).

Trachinotus botla (not of Shaw) Ogilby, 1915:93, pl. 28 (synonymy in part; T. oblongus and T. russelli listed as synonyms; Queensland, Australia); McCulloch, 1929:192 (listed from New South Wales, Queensland and Lord Howe Island); Roughley, 1951:59, color pl. 23 (Queensland, Australia); Munro, 1956:184 (New Guinea and New Britain records apparently all based on misidentified R/V Fairwind collections of T. baillonii ; Marshall, 1964:229, pl. 38, fig. 240 (Queensland and New South Wales, Australia); Allen et al., 1976:401 (Lord Howe Island); Russell, 1983:56 (Capricorn group, Great Barrier Reef); Randall et al., 1990:168, color pl. V-12 (Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea); same color drawing also used by Allen and Swainston (1988) for northwestern Australian T. botla .

Caesiomorus botla (not of Shaw). Whitley, 1964:44 (listed).

Trachinotus russelli . Grant, 1982:216, color pl. 81 (Queensland, Australia)

Trachinotus coppingeri (not of Günther) Joshi et al., 2011:399, color pl. 60, fig. A (Tuticorin, India); Abdussamad et al., 2013:25, color fig. 13 ( India); Joshi et al., 2016:44 (Gulf of Mannar, checklist).

Type material examined. BMNH 1881.10 .12.44 (134 mm FL), holotype of Trachinotus coppingeri Günther, Percy Island (21°39’S, 150°16’E), Queensland, Australia ; QM I.1536 (176 mm FL), holotype of Trachinotus velox Ogilby , South passage (28°22’S, 153°26’E), Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia .

Other material examined. 65 specimens, 83–343 mm FL. Eastern Australia: BMNH 1914.8.20.167 (1, 264) New South Wales, D.J. Stead ; QM 6653 (1, 325), Magnetic Island (19°08’S, 146°50’E) ; AMS IB.5433 (1, 343), Townsville District (19°16’S, 144°44’E) ; AMS IA.7481 (1, 298), Lindeman Island (20°27’S, 149°02’E) ; AMS E.1883 (1, 296), North Reef (23°11’S, 151°54’E) ; AMS I.15620–027 (2, 287–321) and ANSP 152961 (1, 303), Capricorn Group, One Tree Islands (23°30’S, 152°05’E) ; CSIRO C3215 (1, 248), Brisbane vicinity ; QM I.97 (1, 168), QM I.1659 (1, 244), QM I.1670 (1, 112) and QM I.1671 (1, 107), Moreton Bay (27°27’S, 153°20’E) ; ANSP 151616 (14, 244–327), ANSP 153828 (10, 228–256), QM I.11455 (3, 161–175), QM I.20061 (1, 318), QM I.20062 (1, 261), Stradbroke Island (27°25’S, 153°35’E) ; AMS I.22893 (1, 160), Arrawarra Beach (30°04’S, 153°12’E) ; AMS I.22891 (1, 134), Woolgoolga Beach (30°07’S, 153°12’E) ; AMS I.14880 (1, 120), Trial Bay (30°53’S, 153°04 ‘E) ; AMS I.875 (1, 207), Port Stephens (32°42’S, 152°06’E) ; AMS IA.4224 (1, 198), New Port (33°39’S, 151°19’E) ; AMS IB.2109 (1, 83), North South Wales , Middle Harbour (33°48’S, 151°16’E) ; AMS IA.4936–37 (2, 143–156), AMS I.9719 (1, 326) and ; MNHN A.4060 (1, 237), MNHN A.4078 (1, 226), Sydney (33°53’S, 151°13’E) ; AMS I.7402 (1, 264), Waverley (33°54’S, 151°17’E) ; CAS-SU 13055 (1, 257), Botany Bay (34°0’S, 151°11’E) ; AMS IB.430 (1, 146), Gunnamatta Bay (34°04’S, 151°09 ‘E) . South Australia: USNM 176876 (1, 173), “Kangaroo Island vicinity” (ca. 35°50’S, 137°15’E) . Lord Howe Island (31°31’S, 159°05’E): AMS I.6017 (1, 299), AMS I.9283 (1, 248), AMS I.12916 (1, 236), AMS I.10653 (1, 249), AMS I.13680 (1, 314), AMS I.13681 (1, 303), AMS I.13682–83 (2, 179–180)

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Diagnosis. A species of Trachinotus in which adults have 3–7 dark, vertically elongate or oval spots just touching lateral line or about one-forth below lateral line (spots very faint or absent in specimens <12 cm FL), the first two spots positioned above pectoral fin and several of the larger spots much larger than eye diameter and with their dorsal margins poorly defined; dorsal fin VI-I, 23–25; anal-fin II-I, 22–24; vomerine tooth patch oblong or chevronshaped, usually chevron-shaped, and palatine tooth patch variable in length, usually relatively short ( Fig. 2A , Table 2 ). Selected mensural data for specimens> 200 mm FL are given in Table 8 and selected measurements are plotted in Figs. 6–8 .

Comparisons. Trachinotus coppingeri is most similar to the allopatric T. botla , adults sharing with that species several spots on the sides that are equal to or larger than the eye diameter and silvery gray in fresh specimens but differs in having two spots (vs. only one spot) above the pectoral fin; segmented anal-fin rays 22–24 (vs. 19–22, rarely 22); vomerine tooth patch frequently chevron shaped (vs. consistently round or oval-shaped); and lower ratio of pelvic-fin length to pectoral-fin length ( Fig. 8 ). Trachinotus coppingeri also differs from the other three species in having the upper margins of the large spots poorly defined. Adults of Trachinotus baillonii and T. macrospilus differ most noticeably from T. coppingeri in having black spots on sides with well-defined margins, and the largest spots smaller than the eye diameter.

Size. Largest specimen examined 34 cm FL, ca. 45 cm TL, but attains a larger size. Grant (1982) reported a total length of 60 cm.

Ecology and palatability. Trachinotus coppingeri is the most common member of the genus in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales regions of Australia. It is generally found in the surf zone and is an important species caught by commercial and recreational beach fishers; the majority are caught by sportfishers who do not have a high regard for its edibility ( McPhee et al., 1999). In contrast, Marshall (1964) described it (as Trachinotus botla ) as a splendid food-fish and Grant (1978) as a good-food fish that should be bled immediately upon capture. Spawning occurs between October and April. Tagging and recapture studies indicated random and unpredictable movement patterns, consistent with the temporally and spatially patchy prey of surf zone fishes in general ( McPhee et al., 1999). Most tagged fish moved <4 km from their release sites but movement of 275 km was recorded for one 250 mm FL sub-adult.

Distribution. ( Fig. 13 ) Eastern Australia and Lord Howe Island, and reliably reported from New Caledonia (Borodin, 1932; Fricke et al., 2011) and Norfolk Island ( Francis, 1993). A single specimen from southern Australia, near Kangaroo Island ( USNM 176876), where the species is not established, was stated to have been obtained by Col. John K. Howard between 18 April and 20 March 1953. This record (not plotted on Fig. 14 ) either documents a rare waif occurrence or possibly a specimen locality error.

Records of Trachinotus coppingeri from southern India ( Joshi, 2011:399; Abdussamad et al., 2013:25) are based on misidentifications of Trachinotus botla ( Smith-Vaniz and Carpenter, 2015) . Kailola (1975:122) recorded only Trachinotus baillonii and T. blochii in the fish reference collection at the Kandu Fisheries Research Laboratory, Port Moresby (16 specimens from three localities).

Etymology. Named for Richard William Coppinger (1847–1910), Irish naval surgeon and naturalist, and author of ‘The Cruise of the Albert, 1878-82 ” ( Coppinger, 1883).

Remarks. Günther’s (1884) description and illustration of the holotype of Trachinotus coppingeri indicate that the 134 mm FL specimen lacked spots on the side of its body. Ogilby (1908), who apparently was unaware of Günther’s earlier description, emphasized that the 176 mm FL holotype of T. velox had a series of spots along the lateral line. He stated “… this very distinct species has been confounded with the Indian Trachinotus russellii [= T. botla ], the confusion having doubtless arisen through the similarity of the color markings.” He also observed (p. 15) “… we have no authentic knowledge of the occurrence of [ T. botla ] in the seas of the Commonwealth, and all records of [the species] eastward from a line drawn between the west coast of Australia and the Moluccas must be looked upon with grave suspicion.” Subsequently, several Australian authors (see synonymy) followed Ogilby (1915) in erroneously listing both T. coppingeri and T. velox as synonyms of T. botla .

Figures

TABLE 2. Frequency distribution of vomerine and palatine dentition types A or B (see Fig. 2) in selected Indo-West Pacific Trachinotus species

FIGURE 6. Height of largest spot on mid-side of body plotted against head length in four species of Trachinotus.

FIGURE 7. Heights of dorsal- and anal-fin lobes plotted against fork length in two species of Trachinotus.

FIGURE 8. Pectoral-fin length plotted against pelvic-fin length and fork length in four species of Trachinotus.

FIGURE 13. Distributions of Trachinotus botla and T. coppingeri. Solid symbols indicate specimens examined; open symbols acceptable literature records.

FIGURE 14. Original drawing of Russell’s (1803) “botla parah,” plate 142

FIGURE 17. Trachinotus coppingeri, ANSP 153828, 254 mm FL, Australia, Queensland. Drawn by Karen Ackoff.

FIGURE 18. Trachinotus coppingeri, all from Queensland Australia: A, CSIRO H 4305–03, 295 mm FL; B, CSIRO H 5221– 01, 254 mm FL; C, CSIRO H 4599-03, 146 mm FL. Photographs courtesy of Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO).