Gymnothorax pseudoherrei Böhlke 2000

Smith, David G., Bogorodsky, Sergey V., Mal, Ahmad O. & Alpermann, Tilman J., 2019, Review of the moray eels (Anguilliformes: Muraenidae) of the Red Sea, with description of a new species, Zootaxa 4704 (1), pp. 1-87 : 51

Gymnothorax pseudoherrei Böhlke 2000 —Dwarf Brown Moray

( Figure 33 )

Gymnothorax pseudoherrei Böhlke 2000: 408 , figs. 2F, 3D, 7 (W side of Solino [Selinog] I., Zamboanga Del Norte, Mindanao, Philippines, 8°51’24”N, 123°24’36”E, 0–4.6 m). Holotype, USNM 357430. — Golani & Bogorodsky 2010: 10; Golani & Fricke 2018: 22.

Gymnothorax herrei (non Beebe & Tee Van): Randall & Golani 1995: 860.

Red Sea material. Saudi Arabia: KAUMM 409 [ KAU 12-1082] (1, 112), Al Lith; KAUMM 410 [ KAU 14-869] (1, 116), Al Lith; SMF 33616 (1, 107), Al Lith; SMF 35822 [ KAU 12-1083] (1, 171), Al Lith; SMF 35877 [ KAU 17- 245] (1, 127), Farasan Archipelago, Abkar Island. Eritrea: HUJ 15113 (2, 185-193), Dahlak Archipelago, Romia Island; USNM 312234 (8, 116–204), Sheikh el Abu; USNM 312247 (1, 150), Melita Bay. Yemen: USNM 397542 (1, 171), Hanish Island.

Comparative material. Arabian Gulf: BPBM 33328 (1, 291) ; BPBM 33356 (3, 208–256). Gulf of Oman : BPBM 21473 (1, 208). Sri Lanka : USNM 357433 (3, 116–155, paratypes). Philippines : USNM 357430 (1, 147, holotype), Mindanao ; USNM 357432 (2, 114–121, paratypes), Palawan. Indonesia : USNM 210269 (1, 148) ; USNM 274957 (1, 103). Papua New Guinea : USNM 357431 (2, 126–156, paratypes) .

Description. In TL: preanal length 2.0–2.4, predorsal length 8.1–12, head length 7.2–9.5, body depth at anus 16–25. In head length: snout length 5.7–6.9, eye diameter 7.9–11, upper-jaw length 2.7–3.4. Pores: LL 2, SO 3, IO 4, POM 6. Vertebrae: predorsal 5–8, preanal 42–50, total 111–120.

Body somewhat elongate in smaller specimens, becoming moderately stout with growth; anus slightly before midlength; dorsal-fin origin before gill opening. Snout relatively short and tapering, jaws of equal length. Eye moderate, over middle of upper jaw. Anterior nostril tubular; posterior nostril above anterior part of eye.

Teeth smooth, relatively short, stout and pointed. Intermaxillary teeth in a single peripheral series, 6–8 on each side, conical, increasing in size posteriorly; 1–2 median stout teeth. Maxillary teeth biserial, about 7–14 larger inner teeth and 19–21 smaller outer teeth, those in outer row obtusely pointed. Dentary with 1–4 larger inner conical teeth anteriorly and about 17–25 smaller blade-like outer teeth. Vomerine teeth stout, blunt, uniserial or staggered, about 7–13.

Color: medium to dark brown with an irregular network of indistinct small, darker markings, head paler than body, lower part of head lighter, sometimes with dark lines along throat grooves, one continuing into angle of mouth. Posterior one-fourth of body and fins yellow in smaller specimens, yellow color gradually disappears with growth. Iris white with black outer ring. Body frequently covered with a gray or greenish mucus.

Maximum size about 300 mm.

Distribution and habitat. Northwestern Indian Ocean and western Pacific, from the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf to the Solomon Islands, in shallow water, generally less than 10 m depth. It has not been collected from the coast of Africa or the islands of the western Indian Ocean west and south of the Maldives. A cryptic species living inside coastal reefs, never seen alive.

Remarks. Specimens from the northwestern Indian Ocean (Red Sea, Arabian Gulf, and Gulf of Oman) apparently grow larger than those from elsewhere. Out of more than 100 specimens reported by Böhlke (2000) from east of the Maldives, the largest was 182 mm (ANSP 144601 from Queensland, Australia). The largest of only 12 specimens reported from the northwestern Indian Ocean, by contrast, was 291 mm (BPBM 33328, from the Arabian Gulf). Several other specimens from this area exceeded 200 mm. There is a slight difference in the number of vertebrae between these two groups. Nineteen specimens from the Red Sea, Arabian Gulf, and Gulf of Oman had 113–120 total vertebrae; nine specimens from Sri Lanka, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Papua New Guinea had 111–116. The Red Sea and Arabian Gulf specimens also have dark throat grooves, which are not evident in those from the Pacific. We have no genetic data from outside the Red Sea. This species was confused in the past with the superficially similar Gymnothorax herrei Beebe & Tee-Van , from which it differs by having two branchial pores instead of one, the origin of the dorsal fin more anterior, and lacking an intermediate row of small intermaxillary teeth. In the present COI phylogeny ( Fig. 48 ) two specimens are included that have been collected during the course of this study. As no COI sequence data from other specimens are available, we cannot infer the level of intraspecific genetic divergence. Gymnothorax pseudoherrei forms part of a well supported clade with a number of other taxa, such as G. griseus and G. thyrsoideus , but also Echidna unicolor and E. delicatula ( Fig. 48 ).

Figures

FIGURE 33. Gymnothorax pseudoherrei, SMF 35822 [KAU12-1083], 171 mm TL, fresh specimen, Al Lith, Saudi Arabia. Photo by S.V. Bogorodsky.

FIGURE 48. Unrooted maximum likelihood phylogeny of Indo-Pacific moray eels (Muraenidae) based on partial mitochondrial COI. Branch support values were obtained by 100 bootstrapped replicates; only bootstrap values above 50 percent are shown. The scale bar represents average number of nucleotide substitutions. (A) = specimen sequenced in this study; (B) = sequence retrieved from BOLD; (C) sequence retrieved from CRIOBE; (G) = sequence retrieved from GenBank; (R) = sequence retrieved from Reece et al. (2010); (ID) = species ID re-assigned herein; (ID-H) = specimen re-assigned as of Huang et al. (2019); (SAU) = collected in Saudi Arabia; (ISR) = collected in Israel.