45 research outputs found

    Ichthyological Bulletin of the J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology; No. 43

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    A new species of stingray, Hexatrygon bickelli Heemstra and Smith, is described from a specimen washed up on a beach at Port Elizabeth on the south coast of South Africa. This new species differs from all other batoid fishes in having six gill arches and a peculiar hypertrophied snout that appears to be a well-developed electroreceptive organ, and in the configuration of its spiracles. Other characters that separate H. bickelli from previously known rays (myliobatiforms) are its small simple brain (other rays have a very large complex brain) and the absence of supraorbital crests on the cranium. In addition, all myliobatiforms are neritic (with none having been recorded below 200 m), and H. bickelli is.presumed to live in moderately deep water (400 to 1000 m). The classification of batoid fishes is reviewed, and Hexatrygon is placed in a new family and suborder of the Myliobatiformes.Rhodes University Libraries (Digitisation

    Novos registos de peixes marinhos dos Açores

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    São registadas pela primeira vez para os Açores cinco espécies de peixes: Cookeolus japonicus, Parophidion vassali, Scorpaenodes arenai, Canthigaster rostrata e Antennarius senegalensis. O scorpaenídeo Scorpaenodes arenai Torchio, 1962, anteriormente conhecido apenas do Estreito de Messina, é redescrito com base em seis exemplares dos Açores. A ocorrência em águas açoreanas de Zenopsis conchifer, Elagatis bipinnulata, Lepidocybium flavobrunneum, Acanthocybium solandri, Stephanolepis hispidus e Chaunax pictus é confirmada.ABSTRACT: Five new records of fishes from the Azores are reported: Cookeolus japonicus, Parophidion vassali, Scorpaenodes arenai. Canthigaster rostrata, and Antennarius senegalensis. The scorpaenid fish Scorpaenodes arenai Torchio, 1962, previously known only from the Strait of Messina, is redescribed, based on examination of 6 specimens from the Azores and one of the paratypes. The occurrence of Zenopsis conchifer, Elagatis bipinnulata. Lepidocybium flavobrunneum, Acanthocybium solandri, Stephanolepis hispidus, and Chaunax pictus in Azorian waters is confirmed

    Interactions of fishes with particular reference to coelacanths in the canyons at Sodwana Bay and the St Lucia Marine Protected Area of South Africa

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    The deep demersal fish fauna at depths of 100–400min canyons off the St Lucia Marine Protected Area along the north coast of KwaZulu-Natal is compared with similar fish communities at the Comoro Islands and in the Indo-Pacific region. Fifty-four fish species were seen or photographed from the submersible Jago or by the discovery team of scuba divers in the coelacanth, Latimeria chalumnae, habitat of the canyons off Sodwana Bay. An additional 94 fish species known from depths of 100–200 m along the coast of northern KwaZulu-Natal are likely to occur in the canyon habitat. The fish fauna of the Sodwana canyons shares at least 18 species with the deep demersal fish community off tropical coral reefs of the Indo-Pacific region. Thirty-seven of the Sodwana canyon fishes are also known from the coelacanth habitat in the Comoros

    Ichthyological Bulletin of the J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology; No. 49

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    Two genera of Squirrelfishes of the subfamily Holocentrinae are found in the Indo-Pacific region: Neoniphon (Flammeo of recent authors) and Sargocentron (Adioryx of most recent authors). A total of 19 species of these two genera occur in the Indian Ocean west of the southern tip of India: Neoniphon argenteus, N. aurolineatus (Flammeo scythrops Jordan & Evermann and Holocentrus anjouanae Fourmanoir are junior synonyms), N. opercularis, N. aurolineatus, Sargocentron caudimaculatum, S. diadema, S. ittodai (first records for the Red Sea and western Indian Ocean), S. macrosquamis (recently described from the Red Sea and Amirante Group, Seychelles, the range here extended to Kenya, Mozambique, Mauritius, and the Chagos Archipelago), S. melanospilos (usually misidentified as cornutum which is known only from the Indo-Malayan region), S. microstoma (known in the region only from Maldive Islands and Astove Island), S. praslin (usually not distinguished by authors from S. rubrum; Holocentrum marginatum Cuvier is a synonym), S. punctatissimum (has priority over lacteoguttatum due to selection by first revisor, Bleeker, 1873), S. rubrum, S. seychellense (an insular western Indian Ocean species), S. spiniferum (Holocentrum melanotopte- rus Bleeker is a junior synonym), S. tiere (Holocentrum elongatum Steindachner is a junior synonym), S. tiereoides (a new western Indian Ocean record), S. violaceum, and a new species, S. inaequalis (closely allied to macrosquamis Go- lani, 1984, differing in variable Spination of preopercle, modally one fewer pectoral ray, fewer average number of lateral-line scales and a more elongate body). S. inaequalis is described from a total of 7 specimens from the Chagos Archipelago, Seychelles and Comoro Islands. S. melanospilos is recorded for the first time from the Red Sea where it appears to be subspecifically distinct from populations elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific region (no subspecific name proposed). Holocentrum macropus Gunther, allegedly collected at Mauritius, is a misidentification of the Atlantic Holocentrus ascensionis (Osbeck). A lectotype is selected for S. microstoma. Neotypes are designated for S. praslin and S. rubrum. Colour photographs of fresh specimens of all of the species except S. macrosquamis are presented.Rhodes University Libraries (Digitisation

    Marine Biology Research

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    This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae, and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. South African Institute of Aquatic Biodiversity, Grahamstown, South Africa Abstract The mullid genus Upeneus is highly diverse, with a considerable number of new species found only recently. Based on 16 specimens of Upeneus collected at the southeastern edge of the Seychelles Bank, a large oceanic platform in the Western Indian Ocean, a new species, Upeneus seychellensis, is described. Comparisons with and among populations of the closely related U. guttatus are made. By integration of an extensive, comparative data set consisting of 50 morphometric and meristic and several colour characters obtained from 25 additional Upeneus species, an updated key for the 18 Western Indian Ocean species is provided. The new species can be distinguished from all other congeners of the japonicus-species group, a complex of species with seven dorsal-fin spines, by a combination of number of pectoral fin rays and gill rakers, body depth at anal fin origin, caudal peduncle depth, anal fin size, first dorsal-fin height and colour of the lower caudal-fin lobe. Co-occurring specimens of U. guttatus are considerably differentiated in morphology and colour from other Indian Ocean populations and this was also found for a single specimen from the Gulf of Suez. These results indicate isolation and the formation of local adaptation in more remote areas of the Indian Ocean, but the influence of phenotypic plasticity also needs to be considered

    Review of the anthiine fish genus Pseudanthias (Perciformes: Serranidae) of the western Indian Ocean, with description of a new species and a key to the species

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    Nineteen species of the serranid fish genus Pseudanthias Bleeker are recognized in the western Indian Ocean (including the Red Sea and Persian Gulf ): Pseudanthias bicolor, P. bimaculatus, P. bimarginatus, P. connelli, P. conspicuus, P. cooperi, P. evansi, P. gibbosus, P. heemstrai, P. hypselosoma, P. ignitus, P. lunulatus, P. marcia, P. pulcherrimus, P. squamipinnis, P. taeniatus, P. townsendi, P. unimarginatus and Pseudanthias pillai sp. nov. is described from the south-west coast of India. Pseudanthias gibbosus (Klunzinger) is resurrected from the synonymy of P. squamipinnis and is shown to have a precocious male morph. Discovery of three colour morphs for P. gibbosus is an example of the complicated reproductive systems of these species. Diagnoses, distributions, illustrations and a key to all the species of Pseudanthias in the western Indian Ocean are given

    Peixes marinhos de Santa Maria.

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    V Expedição Científica do Departamento de Biologia – Santa Maria e Formigas 1990.0s peixes constituem um elemento conspícuo da fauna marinha açoreana e, como tal, é relativamente elevado o número de publicações dedicadas a este grupo. Apesar disso, não existe nenhum inventário da ictiofauna de Santa Maria. Procurando contribuir para superar esta lacuna, apresenta-se neste artigo a lista das 42 espécies de peixes colectadas em Santa Maria durante a Expedição Cientifica "Santa Maria e Formigas 1990", bem como dos respectivos nome vulgar (n.v.) e local de captura. A lista das espécies ictiológicas colectadas nas Formigas integrará um relatório separado, inteiramente consagrado a estes Ihéus, enquanto a lista completa de todas as espécies colectadas durante a referida Expedição foi já publicada noutro local (Arruda et al., in press). Todos os exemplares colectados serão depositados nas colecções do Museu Carlos Machado, em Ponta Delgada

    Coastal fishes of the western Indian Ocean

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    The primary purpose of this book is to provide a means of identifying the more than 3 200 species of coastal fishes known to occur in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO). Coastal fishes are those that inhabit waters generally less than ~200 m deep, the waters over continental and insular shelves, and upper continental slopes. The book also includes some oceanic species and species that live in deeper water, but are sometimes caught in trawls in less than 200 m, or that migrate into shallower waters at night to feed. The Western Indian Ocean (WIO), as treated in these volumes, is the area between Cape Point, South Africa, and 77°34' E, at Kanyakumari (formerly Cape Cormorin), the southernmost point of India, and to 40° S, just south of St Paul Island. Although considered as separate water bodies, the Red Sea and Persian/Arabian Gulf have been included. Some contributors have also chosen to include species from Sri Lanka. The region thus encompasses the entire east and southern coasts of Africa, Madagascar and the various island clusters of the Comoros, the Seychelles, the Maldive and Lakshadweep islands, the Chagos Archipelago and the islands and sea mounts of the Mascarene Plateau, to as far as 40° S, and thus some fishes from St Paul and Amsterdam Islands have been included. This large expanse, stretching from tropical waters of the northwestern Indian Ocean to the warm temperate waters of False Bay, South Africa, includes a number of poorly known biogeographic areas. A map of the entire Indian Ocean is placed on the inside front cover of each printed volume, with some areas in greater detail on the inside back cover. The book does not include distribution maps for species, but gives localities from which species are known, with emphasis on WIO localities; our understanding of distributions of many species is often incomplete. Fishes are the most abundant and diverse group of vertebrates and have colonised every aquatic habitat on Earth: the oceans, lakes, rivers and caves, from polar seas at –2 °C to hot, freshwater springs at 44 °C, and from tropical reefs and mangrove forests to the deepest ocean depths. Fishes are also the most poorly known group of vertebrates. In the 2006 edition of Joseph Nelson’s Fishes of the World the estimate of the number of species of extant fishes worldwide stood at about 23 000. This number is growing annually, and was thought to be about 33 460 species at the end of 2016 (www.fishwisepro.com). Between the years 2000 and 2015 an average of 150 new species of marine fishes were described each year – of which 10% of the total (156 species) were from the WIO. The WIO is home to about 15% of all the marine fish species in the world’s oceans. Another measure of the diversity of fishes of this area is its relatively high level of endemicity, particularly around southern Africa and in the Red Sea. About 13% of southern African marine fishes are endemic, most of these in only five families: Clinidae with about 44 endemic species, Gobiidae with 28, Sparidae with 28, Pentanchidae with 6, and Batrachoididae with 7 endemic species. In the Red Sea at least 170 of the more than 1100 species are endemic. The WIO region is also home to a large human population, representing a wide range of ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The area includes the countries of South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia, Eritrea, Sudan, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka, as well as the many island nations and territories. Many of the people living in coastal areas are dependent on fish catches and other marine resources for both sustenance and often a livelihood, as highly diversified artisanal fisheries make up the bulk of the fishing effort in the region. And, as elsewhere in the world, many of the fish resources have been compromised by commercial interests (including those of other countries), often leaving fish stocks in a poor state. This book has a number of purposes, all of which coalesce around providing users with a better understanding of the area’s fishes and their environment. Accordingly, it includes a number of background chapters covering subjects as diverse as the oceanography of the region, and the history and evolution of the bony fishes. In recent years genetic analysis has proved to be a powerful tool for taxonomists. In many instances molecular results have caused taxonomists to rethink both the definitions of certain taxa and the interrelationships of taxa. In some instances, what were long considered cohesive (monophyletic) taxa were found to include groups of fishes that are in fact not closely related (paraphyletic), while in other instances taxa thought to be distinct were found not to be, meriting their merging with other existing taxa. At times, long-accepted family groups have been divided into two or more distinct families, or separate families have been combined into a single one. Where possible such changes in our understanding of the relationships of fishes are reflected in these volumes. Where some contributors have taken a more conservative approach by awaiting more research and not adopting these changes, alternative taxonomies are noted (see also the introductory chapter on Naming organisms and determining their relationships). For each species in the book, the literature pertinent to that species in the WIO is given: the original species description reference, synonyms for the region and other important taxonomic and biological references. For many commercially important species or fishes of interest to anglers there is additional information on life history, size and capture, and for some but not all species, their IUCN conservation status if Near Threatened, Vulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered (in the first instance, valid at the time of writing. See www.iucnredlist.org for current information. Note: we have not included the IUCN conservation status where species are of Least Concern or Data Deficient). Most species are illustrated with photographs, drawings or paintings. Colour photographs and paintings are provided on plates for each volume.1st Editio

    First record of Polyprion oxygeneios (Perciformes: Polyprionidae) for the southwest Atlantic Ocean and a northernmost range extension.

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    Copyright © 2004 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.The hapuka Polyprion oxygeneios (Schneider & Foster) (Fig. 1) is an important deep-water commercial fish species, caught mainly off Australia, New Zealand, Juan Fernandez Archipelago off Chile, the Tristan da Cunha Group of the South Atlantic (Sepúlveda & Pequeño, 1986; May & Maxwell, 1986; Paulin et al., 1989; Paxton et al., 1989; Andrew et al., 1995) and incidentally caught off Chilean Patagonia (Nakamura et al., 1986). The distribution of P. oxygeneios is exclusively southern circum-global, intemperate-cold waters from 28_ to 43_ S (Paxton et al., 1989). Polyprion oxygeneios (Polyprionidae; Nelson, 1994) is mainly a demersal species with a depth range of 50–450 m, occurring over ‘rough’ ground from the central shelf to the upper slope (Paxton et al., 1989). It reaches 150 cm total length (LT) and may weigh up to 100 kg, its juveniles being found near the surface, probably associated with drifting material in a way similar to that recorded for Polyprion americanus (Bloch & Schneider) (Paxton et al., 1989; Saldanha, 1995). This paper reports the first record of P. oxygeneios from the south-west Atlantic

    Ichthyological Bulletin J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology; No. 63

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    Recent collections of fishes from the South Atlantic islands of the Tristan da Cunha Group (Tristan, Inaccessible and Nightingale) and Gough Island have produced 25 new records. Fifty one species are known to occur in the near-shore waters of the islands (46 of these are documented by specimens and another 5 species are probable). A diagnosis, synonymy and in most cases, an illustration, are provided for each species. For certain species, brief notes on biology, relative abundance and seasonal distribution are included. The neritic ichthyofauna of the Subtropical Convergence (STC) region is characterized, and the importance of this frontal zone as a barrier to dispersal of species in the Southern Ocean is evaluated. Analysis of the zoogeographic affinities of the Tristan/Gough fish fauna resulted in a redefinition of the West Wind Drift Islands Province (WWDI), comprising the Tristan Group and Gough in the South Atlantic and St. Paul and Amsterdam Islands in the southern Indian Ocean. Verna Seamount (west of Cape Town) and Walters Shoal (south of Madagascar) are excluded from the WWDI Province, as the affinities of their poorly-known fish faunas appear to be more with South Africa and the tropical Indian Ocean respectively.Rhodes University Libraries (Digitisation
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