A new species of the jawfish genus Opistognathus from Taiwan, northwestern Pacific Ocean (Perciformes, Opistognathidae)

By

Su, Yo
Ho, Hsuan-Ching

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2024

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

1220

Pages

165--174

Subjects

Actinopterygii , Biodiversity , Ichthyology , Morphology , taxonomy

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1220.123541

 

Abstract

A new species of jawfish genus Opistognathus is described based on a specimen collected from a beach in the Peng-hu Islands during a cold snap. The new species, Opistognathus cryossp. nov., differs from its congeners in having a rigid upper jaw, 10–11 + 1 + 19–22 = 31–33 gill rakers, 55 scale rows in lateral series, 10 + 16 = 26 vertebrae, the terminus of the lateral line at the base of the fourth segmented dorsal-fin ray (15th in total rays), the head, nape, dorsal-fin base above lateral line, throat, chest, and pectoral-fin base naked, dorsal fin with eight blotches along its entire base, body with five horizontal dark stripes, nape with two dark blotches in front of the dorsal-fin origin, and a caudal fin with five narrow, dark bands. A detailed description is provided and compared to its similar congeners.