Upeneus aurorae, Uiblein & Williams & Bailly & Hoang & Rajan, 2024

Uiblein, Franz, Williams, Jeffrey T., Bailly, Nicolas, Hoang, Tuan A. & Rajan, P. Thomas, 2024, Four new goatfishes (Upeneus, Mullidae, Mulliformes) from the Asian Indo-Pacific with a list of valid goatfish species and remarks on goatfish diversity, Cybium 48 (2), pp. 135-160 : 139

Upeneus aurorae n. sp. Uiblein & Williams

Aurora Goatfish

( Figs 1 , 2 ; Tables I-II)

Material examined

Holotype and only material ( Fig. 1A ). PNM 15727 (formerly USNM 438122 ), 113 mm SL, vicinity of Dinadiawan , Aurora Province, Luzon, Philippines, W Pacific, obtained from fishermen, collectors J. T. Williams; K.E. Carpenter; M.J. Mendiola; N.A. Flores; 4 Aug. 2015. Genetic tissue sample catalogued as USNM 438122 .

Diagnosis

Dorsal fins VII + 9; pectoral fins 14; gill rakers 6 + 16 = 22; lateral-line scales 31; body moderately elongate; measurements as % SL: body depth at first dorsal-fin origin 24; body depth at anal-fin origin 20; caudal-peduncle depth 10; caudal-peduncle width 4.1; maximum head depth 19; head depth through eye 16; head length 31; snout length 13; orbit length 6.4; upper-jaw length 12; barbel length 20; caudal-fin length 29; anal-fin height 14; pelvic-fin length 19; pectoral-fin length 19; pectoral-fin width 5.1; first dorsal-fin height 19; dorsal-fin spines proportionally decreasing in height; second dorsal-fin height 16; total oblique bars on caudal fin 14, upper caudal-fin lobe with 6 thin orange bars, the two most proximal bars rather close to each other, the distal-most bar on lobe tip; lower caudal-fin lobe with 8 reddish-brown, partly interconnected and curved bars; dorsal fins of fresh fish with four orange stripes; barbels pale-rose whitish with white origin and tip; body colour of freshly deceased fish beige silvery ventrally, dorsally reddish brown, with a weakly indicated orange mid-lateral body stripe from behind eye to caudal-fin base; head reddish brown silvery; paired and anal fins pale-whitish hyaline, pelvic fins with some pale-orange pigmentation; in preserved fish head and body dorsally uniformly brown, body ventrally pale brown, bars on caudal fins and stripes on dorsal fins partly retained as grey pigmentation patterns and barbels pale.

Description

Measurements in % SL and counts are given in Table II; morphometric data as ratios of SL for holotype: body moderately elongate; body depth at first dorsal-fin origin 4.2; body depth at anal-fin origin 4.9, larger than maximum head depth (5.3), pelvic-fin length (5.3) and pectoral-fin length (5.1); caudal-peduncle depth 10, clearly larger than orbit length (16); caudal-peduncle width 24, less than half of interorbital length (14) and much smaller than pectoral-fin width (20); head depth through eye 6.4; head length 3.2, much larger than maximum body depth; snout length 7.7, subequal to second dorsal-fin base (7.6) and only slightly smaller than anal-fin height (7.1); barbel length 4.9; caudal-fin length 3.5; first dorsal-fin height 5.3, much larger than second dorsal-fin height (6.4) and subequal to maximum head depth; dorsal-fin spines proportionally decreasing in height.

Figures

Figure 1. – A: Upeneus aurorae n. sp., PNM 15727 (formerly USNM 438122), HT, 113 mm SL, Luzon, Philippines (J.T. Williams); B: U. huan n. sp., VNMN-I 27; HT, 87 mm SL, Danang, Vietnam (F. Uiblein); C: U. australiae, CSIRO H 4056-01, 105 mm SL (A. Graham); D: U. dimipavlov, VNMN-I 2056, HT, 120 mm SL, N of Hon Tre Island, Nha Trang, S-central Vietnam (D.A. Pavlov); E: U. floros, SAIAB 204583, HT, 107 mm SL, Two Miles Reef, Sodwana Bay, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (C. Floros); F: U. itoui KAUM-I. 13595, PT, 118 mm SL, Kagoshima Prefecture, S Japan (H. Motomura); G: Upeneus madras, BPBM 20658, PT, 110 mm SL, Chennai, SE India (J.E. Randall); H: U. willwhite, CSIRO H 7217-07, HT, 90 mm SL, Lombok, S Indonesia (W.T. White). Black and white bars indicate 2 cm length.

Figure 2. – Four selected morphological characters and SL in Upeneus aurorae n. sp., U. huan n. sp. and the two most similar species of pori-subgroup 1.