Albula koreana, Kwun, Hyuck Joon & Kim, Jin Koo, 2011

Kwun, Hyuck Joon & Kim, Jin Koo, 2011, A new species of bonefish, Albula koreana (Albuliformes: Albulidae) from Korea and Taiwan, Zootaxa 2903, pp. 57-63 : 58-61

Albula koreana sp. nov.

(New English name: Korean bonefish; new Korean name: hwang-jul-ppyam-yeo-eul-myeol)

Albula glossodonta (non Forsskål 1775): Shen et al. 1993.

Holotype. PKU 3394, 350.1 mm SL; 35˚11ʹN, 129˚13ʹE, Sirang-ri, Gijang-gun, Busan, Korea, 31 October 2007, by set net, J. K. Kim. ( Figure 1 A).

Paratype. 4 specimens, 62.8–96.2 mm SL. ASIZP 0067114, one specimen, 62.8 mm SL; ASIZP 0067133, one specimen, 69.1 mm SL; ASIZP 0067192, one specimen, 71.8 mm SL; ASIZP 0067194, one specimen, 96.2 mm SL; 4 measured, 25˚2ʹN, 121˚65ʹE, Wanli, Taipei County, Taiwan, 15 June 2006, by hook and line, D. F. Lee. ( Figure 1 B)

Diagnosis. A species of Albula , with the following combination of characters: anterior contour of the lower jaw rather pointed; posterior tip of the pelvic fin reaching to the anterior margin of the anus; anterior tip of the tooth patch on mesopterygoid is in front of the tooth patch on the parasphenoid ( Figure 2 A); pored lateral line scales, 77– 80; vertebrae, 77–78.

Description. D. 18; A. 9; P 1. 16–18; P2. 10; LLp. 77–80; TRa. 9; TRb. 6; Vert. 77–78. The counts and measurements of five Albula koreana sp. nov. specimens are given in Table 1. Body elongated, slightly compressed ( Figure 1 ); snout conical, mouth inferior; two nostrils present on each side, anterior and posterior ones separated by membrane, posterior one larger than anterior one; upper jaw protruding, maxillary not reaching to anterior border of eye; upper and lower jaw with small patches of villiform teeth; well-developed adipose tissue covering eyes and around eyes, except the pupil; gill rakers small and rudimentary. All fins comprising only soft fin rays; dorsal fin large, located in the middle part of body; anal fin small, located in the posterior part of body; dorsal and anal fin rays gradually become short posteriorly, but last dorsal and anal fin rays slightly elongated; pectoral fin located in ventral part of body; pelvic fin abdominal, its origin below the 12th dorsal fin ray; well-developed axillary scales present at the upper base of pectoral and pelvic fins; caudal fin deeply forked, upper lobe slightly longer than lower lobe. Body fully covered with cycloid scales, except the head and fins (exposed); lateral and dorsal scales have three grooves inside, but the lateral scales on the outside exposed region are shorter than the dorsal scales; pored lateral line begins at the upper margin of operculum, and extends beyond the caudal fin base in a straight line.

Species Albula koreana sp. nov. Albula argentea Type Holotype Paratype Non type Number of specimens 1 4 7 Standard length (mm) 350.1 62.8–96.1 217.1–291.7 Counts

Dorsal fin 18 18 18 Pectoral fin 16 18 17–18 Pelvic fin 10 10 10 Anal fin 9 9 8–9 Pored lateral line scales 80 77 (n=1) 71–74 (n=3) Scales above lateral line 9 9 (n=3) 8–9 (n=5)

continued next page Color of fresh specimens (based on photographs of paratype specimens). Body darkish dorsally and lustrous silvery white ventrally; several rows of faint light brown vertical stripes present on the lateral body; all fins transparent; pectoral and pelvic fins partly yellowish; caudal fin partly brownish; yellowish streak present on the cheek; adipose tissue around the eyes transparent.

Color of preserved specimens (based on holotype specimen). Body dark yellowish dorsally and bright yellowish ventrally; approximately nine rows of black vertical stripes present on the dorsolateral body; all fins semitransparent and bright yellowish; tips of dorsal and caudal fins black, but tip of lower caudal lobe white; anterior tip of snout and around nostrils black; adipose tissue around the eyes semitransparent and dark yellowish.

Comparisons. Albula koreana sp. nov. is clearly distinguishable from A. esuncula , A. nemoptera , A. pacifica , and A. vulpes in its distribution (East China Sea, East Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, East Pacific Ocean, and Atlantic Ocean, respectively; Smith 2002; Pfeiler et al. 2006; Pfeiler et al. 2008). Albula koreana sp. nov. is clearly distinguishable from A. glossodonta in having a pointed lower jaw, more pored lateral line scales (77–80), and more vertebrae (77–78), whereas A. glossodonta has a rounded lower jaw, 66–70 pored lateral line scales, and 67– 69 vertebrae ( Hidaka et al. 2004). Albula koreana sp. nov. is distinguishable from A. oligolepis and A. virgata in its number of pored lateral line scales and vertebrae (61–65 and 64–66, respectively, in A. oligolepis , and 66–70 and 67–69, respectively, in A. virgata ; Hidaka et al. 2008). Albula koreana sp. nov. differs from A. argentea in its number of vertebrae (72–73 in A. argentea ; present study) and the tooth patches on its mesopterygoids and parasphenoid. The tooth patches on the mesopterygoids are distributed more anteriorly than those on the parasphenoid in Albula koreana sp. nov. On the other hand, the anterior end of the tooth patches on the mesopterygoids almost corresponds to that of the tooth patches on the parasphenoid in A. argentea . Interestingly, the tooth patch distributions on the mesopterygoids and parasphenoid are similar between Albula koreana sp. nov. and A. glossodonta ( Figure 2 A, C), and between A. argentea and A. virgata ( Figure 2 B, D), consistent with the mtDNA results ( Figure 3 ), suggesting the phylogenetic significance of this character in this group.

According to Kwun et al. (2011), the mitochondrial cytochrome b sequences can be used to clearly separate all the species of Albula . A 546-bp fragment of the mtDNA cytochrome b sequence of Albula koreana sp. nov. differed considerably from those of the A. argentea specimens, demonstrating very large Kimura’s genetic distances (15.9%–16.4%) between them ( Figure 3 ).

Distribution. Albula koreana sp. nov. occurs around the southeast coast of Korea (Busan) and the northern coast of Taiwan (Wanli).

Etymology. The species name ‘ koreana ’ refers to ‘Korea’, the type locality.

Figures

FIGURE 1. (A) Albula koreana sp. nov., holotype, PKU 3394, 350.1 mm SL, Gijang, Busan, Korea. Photograph in Kwun et al. (2011). (B) Albula koreana sp. nov., paratype, ASIZP 0067194, 96.2 mm SL, Wanli, Taipei County, Taiwan. Photograph in The Fish Database of Taiwan (http: // fishdb. sinica. edu. tw / eng / specimenpic. php? pic = http: // fishdb. sinica. edu. tw / images / ASIZP / 500 dpi / ASIZP 0802128. jpg & asiz =). (C) Albula argentea, UW 043840, 263.2 mm SL, Fiji.

FIGURE 2. Comparison of tooth patch pattern among four Albula species. (A) Albula koreana sp. nov., PKU 3394; (B) Albula argentea, UW 043837; (C) Albula glossodonta, photograph in Shaklee and Tamura (1981); (D) Albula virgata, photograph in Shaklee and Tamura (1981). MP, mesopterygoids; PS, parasphenoid.

FIGURE 3. NJ-tree showing relationships among six Albula species including Albula koreana sp. nov. Numbers at branches indicate bootstrap probabilities in 10000 bootstrap replications. Bar indicates genetic distance of 0.05. * Albula forsteri was synonymized with A. argentea.