192 
(1977) were also found in the Congrogadinae, and were thus 
synapomorphies of the two subfamilies: absence of palatine teeth; 
lower gill rakers fewer than seven; head scaleless or with scales 
confined to the cheek and/or operculum; and gill membranes fused. 
In 1995, the first author and associates made collections of 
shorefishes from Mauritius. Included among the collections was a 
single specimen of an undescribed Anisochromis, which had a 
coloration pattern similar to A. kKenyae, but with meristic characters 
more closely resembling A. straussi. A search of museum collec- 
tions revealed a small juvenile specimen of the same species collected 
by J.E. Randall from the adjacent island of Réunion. In 1998, the 
second author made collections of shorefishes from the latter island, 
including nine specimens of the new species. However, he 
misidentified them as A. kenyae and recorded them as such in a 
checklist of the fishes of the Mascarene Islands (Fricke, 1999). 
MATERIALS AND METHODS 
Institutional codes follow Leviton eral. (1985). All measurements to 
the snout tip were made to the midanterior tip of the upper lip. 
Length of specimens are given in mm standard length (SL), which 
was measured from the snout tip to the middle of the caudal 
peduncle at the vertical through the posterior edge of the dorsal 
hypural plate. Head length was measured from the snout tip to the 
posteriormost edge of the opercular membrane. Snout length was 
measured over the shortest distance from the snout tip to the orbital 
rim, without constricting the fleshy rim of the latter. Orbit diameter 
was measured as its fleshy horizontal length. Interorbital width was 
measured as the least fleshy width. Upper jaw length was measured 
from the snout tip to the posterior edge of the maxilla. Predorsal, 
preanal and prepelvic lengths were measured from the snout tip to 
the base of the first spine of the relevant fin. Body width was 
measured between the posttemporal pores (Fig. 1). Caudal peduncle 
length was measured from the base of the last anal-fin ray to the 
ventral edge of the caudal fin at the vertical though the posterior 
edge of the ventral hypural plate. Caudal peduncle depth was 
measured obliquely between the bases of the last dorsal- and last 
anal-fin rays. Measurements of fin rays excluded any filamentous 
membranes. Pectoral fin length was measured as the length of the 
longest middle ray. Caudal fin length was measured as the length of 
the lowermost ray on the dorsal hypural plate. 
The last ray in the dorsal and anal fins is divided at its base and 
was counted as a single ray. As in most actinopterygians, the 
uppermost ray in the pectoral fins is rudimentary and rotated so that 
the asymmetrical medial and lateral hemitrichia appear to represent 
two separate rays; these were counted as a single ray. Procurrent 
caudal-fin ray counts were of the rays above (‘upper’) and below 
(‘lower’) the principal caudal-fin rays. The uppermost principal 
caudal-fin ray was defined as the ray articulating with hypural 5, and 
the lowermost principal caudal-fin ray was the ray articulating with 
the cartilage nubbin between the distal tips of the parhypural and the 
haemal spine of preural centrum 2 (= post-haemal spine cartilage of 
PU2 following the terminology of Fujita, 1989). Counts of tubed 
scales in the anterior lateral lines included both intermittent non- 
tubed scales and empty scale pockets; if the scale following the last 
tubed scale in the anterior lateral line was missing, a value for the 
anterior lateral line count was not recorded. ‘Scales in lateral series’ 
was defined as the number of scales in the anterior lateral line plus 
the number of scales rows on the caudal peduncle, the latter count 
beginning with the transverse row following the last tubed scale in 
the anterior lateral line and finishing with the transverse row passing 
A.C. GILL AND R. FRICKE 

Fig. 1 Cephalic laterosensory pores of Anisochromis mascarenensis, 
SMNS 23037, 23.9 mm SL, male, holotype, Réunion, in A) dorsal, B) 
left lateral and C) ventral views. AIOP, anterior interorbital pores; 
ALLS1, first anterior lateral-line scale (shown only in B; other scales 
omitted); AN, anterior nostril; ATP, anterior temporal pore; DENP, 
dentary pores; ITP, intertemporal pores; NASP, nasal pores; PARP, 
parietal pores; PIOP, posterior interorbital pores; PN, posterior nostril; 
POPP, preopercle pores; POTP, posterior otic pores; PTP, posttemporal 
pore; SOBP, suborbital pores; SOTP, suprotic pores. Arrow indicates 
dorsal tip of preopercle; branchiostegal membranes shown hatched; 
scaled areas on body shown in manual stipple. Scale bar = 1 mm. 
