Upeneus willwhite, Uiblein & Motomura, 2021

Uiblein, Franz & Motomura, Hiroyuki, 2021, Three new goatfishes of the genus Upeneus from the Eastern Indian Ocean and Western Pacific, with an updated taxonomic account for U. itoui (Mullidae: japonicus-species group), Zootaxa 4938 (3), pp. 298-324 : 313-314

Upeneus willwhite n. sp.

White’s Goatfish

( Figures 1F , 2–6 ; Tables 2, 3)

Upeneus guttatus Day, 1868 : White et al. 2013; Uiblein et al. 2017a (in part)

Material examined. Holotype. CSIRO 7217-07 , 90 mm SL, EIO, S Indonesia, Lombok , Tanjung Luar, fish market, William White (photo of fresh HT, Figure 1F )

Paratype. MZB 23014, 92 mm SL, same sampling data as holotype .

Diagnosis. Dorsal fins VII + 9; pectoral fins 14; gill rakers 6 + 15–17 = 21–23; body moderately elongate and laterally slightly compressed; measurements as % SL: body depth at first dorsal-fin origin 23–24; body depth at anal-fin origin 20–21; caudal-peduncle depth 9.6–9.9, caudal-peduncle width 4.2–4.3; maximum head depth 20–21; head depth through eye 16; head length 29; snout length 10–11; orbit length 7.1–7.5; upper-jaw length 12; barbel length 20; caudal-fin length 28–30; anal-fin height 16–17; pelvic-fin length 20–21; pectoral-fin length 19–20; first dorsal-fin height 20, dorsal-fin spines proportionally decreasing in height; second dorsal-fin height 17; total oblique bars on caudal fin 11 – 14, upper caudal-fin lobe with 5–6 brown mostly straight bars; lower caudal-fin lobe with 6–8 short brown bars ventrally, connecting dorsally to a brown stripe of about orbit diameter in its maximum width, and with about 3 short red, brownish-ochre bars along dorsal margin that do not correspond with bars on ventral-lobe margin; caudal-fin stripe and bars retained after preservation; dorsal fins in fresh fish with 3–4 thin brown stripes, retained in preservative; barbels reddish white when fresh; body colour in freshly deceased fish dark brown dorsally and pale brown ventrally, ventral margin white; mid-lateral body stripe dark brown, rather inconspicuous on snout and posterior half of body; head entirely grey brown; body and head dark brown dorsally and pale brown ventrally when preserved.

Description. Measurements in % SL and counts are given in Table 3; morphometric data as ratios of SL for holotype, data for paratype in brackets: body moderately elongate and laterally slightly compressed, body depth at first dorsal-fin origin 4.3 [4.3]; body depth at anal-fin origin 4.9 [4.9]; head depth through eye 5.1 [4.8]; head length 3.4 [3.5], larger than maximum body depth and subequal to caudal-fin length (3.6 [3.4]); first dorsal-fin height 5.1 [4.9], subequal to barbel length (5.1 [5.1]) and larger than second dorsal-fin height (6.0 [5.8]); pelvic-fin length 5.0 [4.7], slightly larger than pectoral-fin length (5.2 [4.9]) and subequal to body depth at anal-fin origin; caudal-peduncle depth 10 [10], distinctly larger than orbit length (14 [13]); and caudal-peduncle width 23 [24], subequal to pectoral-fin width (22 [23]).

Colour. Fresh HT. Dorsal part of head and body grey brown from snout to above eye and above lateral line; dorsal body colour appearing marbled due to grey scales with dark grey-brown edges; dark grey-brown band of about pupil diameter in width along entire dorsal body margin, becoming more conspicuous behind first dorsal fin and narrows behind second dorsal fin to a dark grey, partly blackish stripe; a similarly coloured dark grey, partly blackish mid-lateral body stripe of pupil diameter in width from behind eye to caudal-fin base crossing the faint white-greyish lateral line below second dorsal fin; below of mid-lateral body stripe scales pale grey or white with brown-greenish edges forming four oblique bands that become weaker and more ochre-coloured distally, before ending on lower part of caudal-fin base or above posterioventral half of body; a fifth faint-yellowish band from below pectoral-fin base to above anal-fin origin; head below eye from behind snout pale grey with grey-brown dots or streaks and two faint-reddish blotches on ventral margin below and behind eye; iris red to rose whitish; ventral part of head and body white creamy; caudal fin with five oblique brown-ochre bars of about half pupil width on upper lobe, the most anterior bar at lobe base bent, the remaining bars more straight; white-hyaline interspaces between bars increasing in width from being narrower than bars proximally to double-bar width distally; tip of upper caudal-fin lobe white hyaline; lower caudal-fin lobe with eight short brown bars, along ventral margin of lobe brown streaks on ventral-most fin rays; white-hyaline interspaces between bars increasing distally to more than double-bar width; dark brown stripe along middle of lower caudal-fin lobe of about orbit diameter in its maximum width, stripe originating from a large, vertically extended dark-brown patch on caudal-fin base, connecting there with mid-lateral body stripe; lower caudal-fin lobe stripe changes from dark brown to brown red distally, ending as a dark-brown lobe tip; dorsal part of lower caudal-fin lobe with three brownish-ochre bars of about twice the width of bars on ventral side of lobe and with white-hyaline interspaces as wide as these bars; first dorsal fin hyaline with rather irregularly arranged pale-brown pigmentation spots, streaks or small blotches on or between individual spines giving a weak indication of a horizontal stripe close to fin base and three more oblique stripes further above; first dorsal-fin tip unpigmented; second dorsal fin hyaline with pale-brown spots arranged into three horizontal stripes, fin tip pale-brown; pectoral, pelvic and anal fins hyaline, weakly pale reddish-brown along several fin rays; barbels rose whitish, pale red on base.

Preserved HT. Dark brown dorsally at level of snout to termination of lateral line at caudal-fin base; pale brown to beige ventrally below eyes and level of pectoral-fin base; behind pectoral-fin base to second dorsal-fin base two weakly indicated brown bands intermingled with beige; caudal-fin bars and stripe and dorsal-fin pigmentation well retained; other fins pale hyaline; barbels pale.

Etymology. The name “ willwhite ” is used as a composed noun in apposition. It honours the ichthyologist Dr. William T. White, Australian National Fish Collection, CSIRO National Research Collections Australia, Hobart, Australia, for collecting and photographing mullid specimens from S Indonesia and making them available for taxonomic research (including the types of Upeneus willwhite ).

Distribution, habitat, size. Only known from Lombok, S Indonesia; occurs most probably on shallow sandy bottoms; attains at least 92 mm SL.

Remarks. This species was obtained at a fish market and hence may have local commercial value.

Figures

FIGURE 1. A: Upeneus dimipavlov n. sp., VNMN-I 2056, HT, 120 mm SL, N of Hon Tre Island, Nha Trang, S-central Vietnam (D.A. Pavlov); B, C: Upeneus elongatus n. sp., KAUM-I. 58746, HT, 89 mm SL, Tanega-shima Island, S Japan (H. Motomura); D, E: Upeneus itoui, Kagoshima Prefecture, S Japan; D: KAUM-I. 13591, PT, 104 mm SL; E: KAUM-I. 13595, PT, 118 mm SL; F: U. willwhite n. sp., CSIRO 7217-07, HT, 90 mm SL, Lombok, S Indonesia (W.T. White); G–J: U. cf. elongatus, Central Philippines, Visayas, adults, unvouchered; G: Panay; H: Leyte; I, J: Negros (P. & G. Poppe – https://poppe-images.com).

FIGURE 2. Relationship among two meristic and five morphometric characters in the four featured species of Upeneus and U. asymmetricus and U. pori.

FIGURE 3. Relationship among four morphometric characters in three featured species of Upeneus and U. guttatus.

FIGURE 4. Relationship among six morphometric characters in three featured species of Upeneus and U. australiae.

FIGURE 5. Relationship among one meristic and five morphometric characters in three featured species of Upeneus and U. floros.

FIGURE 6. Relationship among seven morphometric characters in three featured species of Upeneus and U. heterospinus.