Scarus arabicus ( Steindachner, 1902 )

Zajonz, Uwe, Bogorodsky, Sergey V., Saeed, Fouad K. N., Aideed, Moteah S. & Lavergne, Edouard, 2023, Parrotfishes (Teleostei: Labridae: Scarini) of the Socotra Archipelago: Diversity and distributional biogeography, including a range extension of Scarus zufar Randall & Hoover, 1995, Zootaxa 5389 (3), pp. 301-330 : 308

Scarus arabicus ( Steindachner, 1902)

Pseudoscarus arabicus Steindachner, 1902: 318 ; holotype: NMW 72746 ; type locality: Mukalla, Yemen, Gulf of Aden.

Arabian Parrotfish

Figure 4

Material examined: Underwater photograph; SMF uncatalogued [sample of tissue SOC19-468], initial phase, 26 cm SL, Socotra Island, Hadibo fishmarket, 12 April 2019 ; SMF uncatalogued [sample of tissue SOC19-485], terminal male, 46 cm SL, Socotra Island, Hadibo fishmarket, 19 April 2019 .

Distinctive characters: Body depth 2.4–2.7 in SL; dorsal profile of head of terminal males steep and distinctly convex; posterior nostril subequal to anterior nostril; teeth fully fused to form dental plates, less than one-half covered by lips; cutting edge of dental plates slightly irregular; posterior margin of upper dental plate with 4 or 5 small blunt teeth; caudal fin slightly emarginate in terminal males. Meristic values: Pectoral-fin rays 15; median predorsal scales 4, about equal in size; cheek with 2 scale rows, lower row with 4–5 scales.

Colouration: Initial phase gray-brown, the scale edges brown. Terminal males green often suffused with brown. Both phases with head pale blue-green ventrally, green front of snout, a broad pale blue-green band across interorbital which extends slightly behind orbit, dental plates blue-green, dorsal and anal fins colored like body with green-blue margin, and caudal fin with white posterior margin.

Distribution: Restricted to the Arabian region, reported from the eastern Gulf of Aden to the Gulf of Oman (Randall 1995; Lips et al. 2016).

Remarks: Observed individuals and collected specimens match the description of Scarus arabicus ( Randall & Bruce 1983; Randall 1995), supporting the record of Zajonz et al. (2019). Individuals on Socotra Island were observed on rocky substrata at depths of 5– 8 m. Data on habitat and depth of collected specimens are not available. Previously known from Socotra Island ( Zajonz et al. 2019), the distribution range is extended to the west by the observation of the initial phase and a terminal male in a mixed coral and rock reef area of south-eastern Abd al-Kuri Island.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Scarus arabicus. A: initial phase, Abd al-Kuri Island, Socotra Archipelago, 7 m depth; B: SMF uncatalogued, initial phase, 26 cm SL, Hadibo fishmarket, Socotra Island; C: SMF uncatalogued, terminal male, 46 cm SL, Hadibo fishmarket, Socotra Island.