Neoconger tuberculatus ( Castle, 1965 )

Smith, David G., Marceniuk, Alexandre P., Rotundo, Matheus M., Carvalho, Cintia O. & Caires, Rodrigo A., 2024, A review of the genus Neoconger (Anguilliformes: Moringuidae), with the description of a new species, Zootaxa 5492 (1), pp. 109-128 : 123-124

Neoconger tuberculatus ( Castle, 1965)

( Figure 12 ; Table 3 )

Leptocephalus tuberculatus Castle, 1965: 131 , fig. 1 F–H; Manly Beach , Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, coll. 1907; 32.7 mm TL (“type”) and 33.5 mm (“ paratype ”) AMS IA. 2477.

Diagnosis. Based on the available information ( Castle 1965; Smith 1989b), the larva of Neoconger tuberculatus has fewer preanal myomeres (46–48) than any of the Atlantic species (49–60). It further differs from N. torrei in lacking the anterior ventral melanophore (vs present); from N. anaelisae in having a sharper intestinal loop and lacking the anterior ventral melanophore (vs present). It differs from Neoconger species in having the posterior lateral melanophore (vs absent) and fewer LVBV myomeres (51–53 vs 57–60). It differs from N. vermiformis in lacking the anterior ventral melanophore (vs present).

Description (from Castle 1965). Intestinal loop sharp, anterior ventral melanophore absent, posterior lateral melanophore present. Predorsal myomeres 53–54, preanal myomeres 46–48, LVBV 51–53, total myomeres 100– 101, dorsal-fin rays 180–182, anal-fin rays 147–165.

Distribution. Coast of New South Wales near Sydney, Australia.

Remarks. This species was described from two larval specimens collected in 1907 at Manly Beach near Sydney in southeastern Australia. It has not been reported since, and no adult specimens of Neoconger are known from the area, or anywhere in the Indo-West Pacific.

Smith & Castle (1972: 245) briefly reported finding two specimens of larval Neoconger in the ZMUC that were collected in 1893 and were originally from the Godefroy Museum in Hamburg, Germany. The locality was given only as “Sydhavet” (South Sea). Total myomeres were given as 99 and 100 myomeres, close to the values in N. tuberculatus . No further information is available, but it is one additional piece of evidence for Neoconger in the Indo-Pacific, assuming that Sydhavet does refer to that ocean.

Figures

FIGURE 12. Leptocephalus of Neoconger tuberculatus, from Castle 1965: text-fig. 1 F–H.