Serranus novemcintus Kner, 1864

Sithole, Yonela, Heemstra, Elaine & Mwale, Monica, 2021, Revalidation and redescription of Serranus knysnaensis Gilchrist, 1904 (Perciformes: Serranidae) with a new distribution record, Zootaxa 5057 (1), pp. 99-113 : 108-109

Serranus novemcintus Kner, 1864

English name: Barred seabass

Figures 3 , 5 ; Tables 1–5

Serranus novemcinctus Kner 1864: 483 , Pl. 2, Fig. 1 (St. Paul Island and Cape of Good Hope, southern Indian Ocean); Heemstra & Randall 1986: 536 (Fig. 166.77; Amsterdam and St. Paul Islands).

Diagnosis. Dorsal-fin X, 14; pectoral-fin rays 16–17; gill rakers 9–12+21–24 (31–35 total); circumpeduncular scales 34–36; lateral-line scales 67–74; scales from dorsal fin to lateral line 9–10; scales from the anal-fin origin to lateral line 20–23. Caudal fin emarginated; scales ctenoid; maxilla naked; teeth on vomer and palatines; opercle with three flat spines, central spine largest and directed horizontally; cheek, pectoral-fin base and chest scaly.

Description. Body elongate; body depth less than head length, about 3.2–4.9 in SL; head length 2.4–3.6 in SL. Maxilla extending to below middle of the eye; lower jaw projecting beyond upper jaw; opercle with three flat spines, the upper two spines well developed. Scales ctenoid; small scales at the bases of dorsal, anal and pectoral fins. Preopercle margin coarsely serrate, developed spines near angle. The first two dorsal-fin spines shortest. No distinct notch between dorsal spines and soft rays but soft rays slightly elevated.

Color ( Fig. 5 ). Brownish with nine dark vertical bars dorsally on body, the first four below the spinous dorsal fin; the next three under the soft dorsal rays, the eighth on the caudal peduncle and the last at the caudal-fin base; diagonal bar on the preopercle, originating behind the eye to margin of opercle at mid-pectoral fin position. Ventral body white. No spots on the fins but dorsal fin membranes may have some irregular bluish lines on basal third of fin membrane.

Color in preservation. Specimens lose color in preservation but the pattern, i.e. nine vertical bars on body, and diagonal bar on the preopercle, remains visible.

Distribution. Amsterdam and St. Paul Islands, and at Walters Shoals south of Madagascar ( Heemstra & Randall 1986; Collette & Parin 1991).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Serranus knysnaensis (a) Underwater picture from Umhlanga Ruby Snow (29°44’ S, 31°15’ E), Photograph by Ryan Palmer (DST/NRF/ACEP Spatial Solutions Project), and (b) in preservation (SAIAB 17159, 64.9 mm SL, Tsitsikamma, South Africa).

FIGURE 3. A maximum likelihood tree based on 92 COI mtDNA sequences (597 bp) of 17 Serranus species based on the General Time Reversible model. All sequences were downloaded from BOLD and GenBank (Table 1). The bottom scale bar represents branch lengths measured in the number of substitutions per site. Study species clusters are also highlighted: Serranus cabrilla (SC), S. knysnaensis (SK) and S. novemcinctus (SN).

FIGURE 5. Serranus novemcinctus, SAIAB 188950 (116.3−262.0 mm SL), from Walters Shoal, southern Madagascar, photograph by Allan D. Connell (NRF-SAIAB).