Symphysanodon katayamai Anderson, 1970

William D. Anderson, Jr. & Victor G. Springer, 2005, Review of the perciform fish genus Symphysanodon Bleeker (Symphysanodontidae), with descriptions of three new species, S. mona, S. parini, and S. rhax., Zootaxa 996, pp. 1-44 : 23-25

Symphysanodon katayamai Anderson, 1970 .

Anderson (1970), based on the holotype (ZIKU 8206, 163 mm SL) and one extensively dissected nontype specimen (YU uncatalogued;>145 mm SL, head removed), reported S. katayamai from off Kashiwajima, Kochi Prefecture, Japan. We have examined two additional specimens that have not been reported in the literature; they are from the Palau Islands (BPBM 37711; 72 mm SL) and the Hawaiian Islands (BPBM 30603; 111 mm SL; taken from the stomach of an Epinephelus [ Serranidae ]). Depths of collection for the additional material are 91 m and 165- 183 m. Counts and measurements for the holotype and the new material are presented in Table 6.

Three earlier references to S. typus (Kamohara and Katayama, 1959; Katayama, 1960, 1968) refer to specimens collected off Kashiwajima; all of those specimens appear to be representatives of S. katayamai (see Anderson, 1970). One of the three specimens (ZIKU 8206, 163 mm SL) identified by Kamohara and Katayama (1959) as S. typus is the holotype of S. katayamai (see Anderson, 1970). Katayama (1984:138) noted that this species is “collected from southern Japan” being “rarely caught by hand-line in fairly deep water over rocky bottoms” and mentioned that it reaches 200 mm SL. Konishi (1988) provided descriptions and illustrations of 3.8 and 10.5 mm larvae of Symphysanodon that were identified as S. katayamai . Lee (1989) reported three specimens (118-164 mm SL) of S. katayamai obtained off southern Taiwan (Kaohsiung and Hengchun) in 1975 and 1988, provided a color photograph, and presented a table comparing morphological characters of S. katayamai , S. typus , and S. maunaloae . Senou (2002:733) provided a brief account that includes diagnostic data and the following comments on habitat and geographic range: “Rocky reefs of coastal shallow and deep waters. Pacific coast of southern Japan; Taiwan.” Kimura et al. (2003) presented a short account and a color photograph of S. katayamai and reported the species from off Bitung, northeastern Sulawesi, Indonesia. Symphysanodon katayamai , then, has been reported in the literature only from collections made off southern Japan, off southern Taiwan, and off northeastern Sulawesi. The new material examined represents a considerable extension of the known range of the species to the Palau Islands (Augulpelu Reef) in the western Pacific and eastward to the northwestern Hawaiian Islands (South Gardner Pinnacles) in the central Pacific. Locality data for S. katayamai are plotted in Figure 9.

Kamohara and Katayama (1959:3) wrote the following about the three specimens they described under Symphysanodon typus : “Coloration: In preservative reddish, a broad longitudinal orange band on the side of body; dorsal yellowish; tip of each lobe of caudal yellowish.” Masuda et al. (1975, plate 51-K) presented an illustration labeled Symphysanodon typus that is of a specimen of S. katayamai ; this illustration closely resembles that in Masuda et al. (1984, plate 124-I; see below). Katayama (1984:138) wrote: “Body reddish-pink, with a broad longitudinal orange band on side of body.” Masuda et al. (1984, plate 124-I) published a color photograph of a 200-mm specimen. The fish depicted by Masuda et al. (1984) is mainly rosy with a broad yellow band extending from near the orbit to caudal-fin base and onto upper lobe of caudal fin. Lee (1989:70) described the coloration when fresh as “rosy-red with a broad yellowish lateral band from posterior margin of orbit toward the base of caudal fin” and related (p. 70): “The species previously misidentified as Scolopsis eriomma in Chang et al., 1979 (p. 85, Pl. 31-D) is in fact Symphysanodon katayamai Anderson .” The specimen shown in Chang et al., 1979 (Pl. 31-D) has the following coloration: head rosy dorsally and ventrally, mostly pallid laterally; iris mostly yellow; body rosy dorsally, pink midlaterally, and pallid ventrally; bright yellow spot at posterior end of opercle; dorsal fin mostly dull yellow; distal margin of anal fin rosy gray; upper caudal-fin lobe purplish, lower caudal-fin lobe greenish with ventralmost elements yellow; pectoral fin pinkish; pelvic fin not seen clearly. The individual (90 mm SL) in the photograph in Kimura et al. (2003) is mostly pink with a pale yellow band from posterior end of operculum to near the base of the caudal fin (band narrowing and becoming fainter posteriorly).

A note on coloration accompanying one of the recently examined specimens of S. katayamai (BPBM 30603, 111 mm SL) states: “Pale orange with diffuse yellow stripe mid-laterally; yellow on opercular flap, around pupil (on ‘eye ring’), on preopercle below and posteriad to eye, and on snout. Principal caudal rays yellow; uppermost and lowermost rays pale orange; caudal filaments prolonged, pale orange.” A photograph of S. katayamai (BPBM 37711, 72 mm SL), available at http://www.bishopmuseum.org/ research/treks/palautz97/fish29.html (last visited, 28 February 2005), shows the head and body to be mainly rosy, darker dorsally; iris of eye yellow dorsally and to a slight degree ventrally; yellow stripe from posterior end of opercle to a point near the posterior end of the caudal peduncle -stripe diffuse posteriorly; dorsal fin mostly yellowish green suffused in part by pale pink; anal, pectoral, and pelvic fins pink; upper lobe of caudal fin mostly yellow, dorsalmost elements rosy proximally, gray distally; lower lobe of caudal fin mainly rosy, ventralmost elements gray distally; area encompassing fork of caudal fin pallid.