Synodus variegatus (Lacepède [ex Commerson] 1803)

Andréfouët, Serge, Chen, Wei-Jen, Kinch, Jeff, Mana, Ralph, Russell, Barry C., Tully, Dean & White, William T., 2019, Checklist of the marine and estuarine fishes of New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea, western Pacific Ocean, with 810 new records, Zootaxa 4588 (1), pp. 1-360 : 64-65

Synodus variegatus (Lacepède [ex Commerson] 1803) — Variegated lizardfish, reef lizardfish ( Fig. 20 )

Status at New Ireland. First recorded from Kavieng District , New Ireland as Synodus englemani by Cressey & Cressey (1979: 68); specimens photographed at St. KVG24 (off northwestern Bauddisson Island ) by Serge Andréfouët on 22 Aug. 2014; a video of a specimen taken off southern New Hanover at 4–51 m depth, St. KR 110, in 2014 (identified by Barry C. Russell).

Distribution and habitat. New Ireland: 1, 2.—General distribution: Red Sea, East Africa and Mascarenes east to Hawaiian Islands and Pitcairn Group, north to Ryukyu Islands, south to Lord Howe, Kermadec and Rapa islands, straying to New Zealand. Found in deep lagoon and seaward coral reefs, sometimes on sandy bottoms concealing itself in the sand, 2–121 m depth. Marine.

Figures

FIGURE 20. Synodus variegatus (Lacepède [ex Commerson] 1803), Bauddisson Island, Kavieng District, St. KVG15, 22 Aug. 2014 (underwater photograph: Serge Andréfouët).