Aseraggodes whitakeri Woods, 1966

Randall, John E., 2005, A review of soles of the genus Aseraggodes from the South Pacific, with descriptions of seven new species and a diagnosis of Synclidopus., Memoirs of Museum Victoria 62 (2), pp. 191-212 : 210-211

Aseraggodes whitakeri Woods

Figures 16 , 17, Tables 1–3

Aseraggodes melanostictus .— Schultz, 1943: 60 (Hull Island,

Phoenix Islands) (non Aseraggodes melanostictus Peters ). Aseraggodes whitakeri Woods in Schultz et al., 1966: 71, fig. 150. Aseraggodes sp. — Wass, 1984: 31 (Taema Bank, Tutuila, American

Samoa).

Material examined. Marshall Islands: Rongelap Atoll, USNM 141765 , 38 mm (holotype) . Caroline Islands: Kapingamarangi Atoll, CAS 205944 , 28 mm. Coral Sea: Chesterfield Bank , BPBM 33731 , 22 mm . New Caledonia, ROM 64828 , 42 mm ; ROM 64829 , 37 mm ; ROM 64831 , 21.5 mm . Fiji: Ringgold Islands , BPBM 20863 , 32 mm . American Samoa: Tutuila, Taema Bank , BPBM 24113 , 43.0 mm ; BPBM 24130 , 2 : 25–25.5 mm . Phoenix Islands: Hull Island , USNM 115223 , 34 mm. Society Islands: Moorea , ROM 61360 , 14 mm ; ROM 61361 , 23 mm .

Type locality. Rongelap Atoll, Marshall Islands .

Diagnosis. Dorsal rays 71–78; anal rays 48–53; pelvic rays 5 (3 in one side on one aberrant specimen); caudal rays 18, 14 branched (17 rays, 13 branched in one specimen); lateral-line scales 77–86, including 10–12 anterior to a vertical at upper end of gill opening); most scales of ocular side of body with 8–10 cteni (up to 11 on largest specimens); narrowest interorbital space with 2 scales; eyes with only 1 or 2 scales extending onto medial edge, and only about 3 rows anteriorly; vertebrae 36–38; dorsal pterygiophores anterior to fourth neural spine 14–15; body depth 2.55–2.75 in SL; HL 4.1–4.35 in SL; an overhanging fleshy snout, the lower edge of upper lip usually extending ventral to lower lip and jutting anterior to profile of head below mouth (more evident in smaller specimens); eye diameter 4.7–5.55 in HL; upper eye varying from one-half to full eye diameter anterior to lower eye; interorbital space very narrow, the vertical distance separating eyes less than half eye diameter; caudal peduncle present, its length 7.2–10.0 in HL; ventral edge of head posterior to mouth with 10–19 lappet–like cirri; edge of operculum at gill opening with slender well-spaced cirri on both sides; edge of lengthwise membranous ridges of dorsal and anal rays of ocular side with cirri, reduced and disappearing on about posterior half of fins; cirri also present on rays of blind side, but fewer and restricted to more anterior rays; lateral line aligned with dorsal edge of upper eye; upper end of gill opening in line with ventral fleshy edge of lower eye; anterior nostril reaching fleshy base of lower eye when laid back; caudal fin slightly pointed, its length 3.05–3.65 in SL; longest dorsal ray 1.4–1.8 in HL; anal rays and all but anterior dorsal rays of larger specimens branched distally; pelvic fins long, 1.65 –1.85 in HL, the tip of longest ray extending to base of third or fourth anal ray; colour in alcohol of ocular side of most specimens pale tan without any dark markings; specimens from American Samoa with faint dark blotches in 3 rows on the ocular side, one row below base of dorsal fin, one along lateral line, and one above base of anal fin. Yellowish tan with many irregular pale markings partially outlined with dusky brown; fins pale with dusky specks

Remarks. Richard C. Wass recorded the brief colour note (above) on the label of the largest of three specimens, 43 mm SL, that he collected in American Samoa. A photograph of his specimen after 20 years in alcohol is presented as Figure 16 . Figure 17 is a photograph of a fresh 42-mm specimen from New Caledonia taken by Richard Winterbottom. Most specimens of this species have an overhanging snout, the tip of the upper lip anterior and ventral to the lower lip, as shown in somewhat exaggerated form in the drawing of the holotype (Woods in Schultz et al., 1966: fig. 150). Unfortunately, Woods placed Aseraggodes whitakeri in the couplet of his key beginning with “snout not overlapping tip of the lower jaw”, and he wrote in his description, “snout not hooked over lower jaw.” He evidently confused this part of his description with that of A. smithi Woods. The dorsal-ray count of Woods is corrected from 72 to 76, and the anal-ray count from 51 to 52.

The drawing of the holotype is in error in the relative position of the eyes. The upper eye should overlap only about the anterior tenth of the lower eye. Also the dark blotches of the drawing are in the wrong positions. Those along the dorsal edge of the body should be 5 or 6 dorsal rays anterior to the position depicted. The largest dark blotch on the lateral line is also placed too posteriorly. It should be below the base of the fiftieth dorsal ray.

Wass (1984) reported three specimens from American Samoa. The largest, BPBM 24113 , collected on the Taema Bank in 21.5 m, has only 3 rays in the right pelvic fin, a shorter base, and the left fin is shorter than normal. The other two specimens, BPBM 24130 , from the same bank, but in 35 m, have normal pelvic fins .

The first specimen of this species was reported by Schultz (1943) from a channel at Hull Island , an atoll in the Phoenix Islands . He wrote, “it may be a specimen of Aseraggodes melanostictus (Peters) .” The holotype was collected in 6 m from a lagoon coral head at Rongelap Atoll, Marshall Islands by V.E. Brock and E.S. Herald in 1946. A second specimen from Micronesia was taken on a reef flat at Kapingamarangi Atoll in the Caroline Islands . The remaining specimens from the South Pacific are from the Chesterfield Bank in the Coral Sea and New Caledonia to the Society Islands . Depths of capture ranged from a tidepool at low tide in less than 0.2 m on the Chesterfield Bank to 37 m on the Taema Bank, American Samoa .

Aseraggodes diringeri Quéro, 1997 from the western Indian Ocean (type locality Réunion) has the same counts of fin-rays, lateral-line scales, vertebrae, and dorsal pterygiophores as A. whitakeri . It differs from whitakeri in its larger size. The holotype of diringiri measures 104 mm SL, and the one paratype is 59 mm in SL. Of 23 specimens of diringeri examined by the author, ten are larger than the largest whitakeri (43 mm SL). Judging from a single colour photograph of each species, the white markings of the body of whitakeri are nearly all vermiculate, as shown in Figure 17, whereas they are nearly all as discrete spots in diringeri ( Fig. 18 ).

As noted in the two species accounts above, A. whitakeri is also similar to A. pelvicus and A. ramsaii .

Figures

Figure 16. Aseraggodes whitakeri, BPBM 24113, 43.0 mm SL, Tutuila, American Samoa.

Figure 18. Aseraggodes diringeri, ROM 56917, 43.4 mm SL, Mayotte, Comoro Islands (R. Winterbottom).