Nectamia annularis (Rüppell, 1829)

Fraser, Thomas H., 2008, Cardinalfishes of the genus Nectamia (Apogonidae, Perciformes) from the Indo-Pacific region with descriptions of four new species, Zootaxa 1691 (1), pp. 1-52 : 8-12

Nectamia annularis (Rüppell, 1829)

Figures 6E , 7 , 18 and Tables 1 –3

Synonyms: Apogon erdmani Lachner, 1951 . Red Sea, Saudi Arabia, Jidda.

Type material. Lectotype Apogon annularis SMF 1774 60.9 mm SL; Red Sea, El Tur, Sinai coast, Egypt, Gulf of Suez.; E. Rüppell, 1827 . Paralectotypes SMF 4679-81 (3, 37–51) ; same date as SMF 1774 . Holotype Apogon erdmani USNM 147518 59.5 mm SL; Saudi Arabia, Jeddah , Sams Pier, 2 July 1948, D.S. Erdman Coll; x-rayed . Paratypes USNM 112040 (7, 43–59); same data as holotype .

* = lectotype

Additional Material. Red Sea: Egypt: Gulf of Aqaba : USNM 212429 ; (24, 39–53) ; Bay at El Himera. BPBM 21513 ; (3, 34–45) ; color; El Himera ; 12m.; 25 Apr. 1977 . SMF 1076 ; (1, 73) ; 1872. SMF 4682 ; (1, 49) ; Al Ghardaqa , 27°14'N 33°50'E; 27 Jul 1957 . USNM 212430 ; (16, 36–59) ; N. of Râs Burqa. USNM 212432 ; (5, 40–52) ; Marsa Muqabila. USNM 212438 ; (8, 42–50) ; One mi. N. of Râs Burqa. USNM 212441 ; (1, 40) ; Between Marset Mahashel Ala & Marset Abu Samra. USNM 212443 ; (3, 14–36) ; Bay between marsa Mokrakh and El Himera. Strait of Gûbâl : USNM 212428 (61, 45–59) ; Râs Muhammad. USNM 212439 ; (2, 31–50) . USNM 212442 ; (21, 25–52) . USNM 212444 ; (1, 26) . Gulf of Suez: USNM 212436 ; (9, 26–30) . USNM 212437 ; (30, 32–55) . USNM 212440 ; (3, 28–57) ; El-Tur, Sinai Peninsula. USNM 212446 ; (72, 24– 58) . Jordan: SMF 16161; (2, 32–32) ; Aqaba; 14 Nov 1979 . SMF 16162; (1, 30) ; Aqaba; 10 Nov 1979; 10 m. SMF 16163; (1, 51) ; Aqaba; 23 Nov 1979; 10 m. Saudi Arabia: ANSP 163226 ; (2, 52–53) ; Khor Obhour. RMNH 12892 ; (2, 61–66) ; Jeddah. BPBM 30386 ; (4, 14–18) ; 29km. S. of Yanbu. Sudan: BPBM 20373 ; (3, 34–45) ; Suakin Harbor. SMF 8352 ; (1, 20) ; Suakin , 19°07'N 37°20'E; Sep 1964 . Eritrea: USNM 212431 ; (29, 27–55) ; North end of Isola Delemme, off Massawa. USNM 212433 ; (47, 24–53) ; Massawa. USNM 212434 ; (7, 17–29) ; Difnein I., South shore. USNM 212435 ; (2, 31–35) ; Melita Bay . USNM 212445 ; (1, 28) . Yemen: Red Sea: BPBM 35701 ; (4, 18–22) ; Jaz ’ir as Zubayr, 15°6.8' N., 42°35.9' E. Gulf of Aden : USNM 212447 ; (20, 20–62) ; Gold Mohur Bay .

This species is not treated in detail except for comparisons with other species, additional specimens and new information under the Description. See Fraser et al. (1999) for additional information.

Diagnosis. A Nectamia without bars on body, circumpeduncular basicaudal mark in juveniles and adults, caudal fin with dark margins, subocular mark broad, triangular (Tab. 2); 13 pectoral-fin rays; total gill rakers usually 26–29 ( Tab. 1); body depth 41–50%, caudal-peduncle depth 15–20%, second anal-spine length 18– 22%, and pectoral-fin length 26–31% of standard length (Tab 3).

Additional Description. Second gill arch with well developed rakers, 4+18; scales ctenoid on cheek, subopercle, opercle, nape, isthmus, two large scales on base of pelvic fin, rudimentary axillary scale variable present cycloid to few ctenii, cycloid on base of pectoral fin and ctenoid behind pectoral fin, pored lateral-line scales complete, fourth scale with one pore above and one below main canal.

Preserved color pattern. Adults (Tab. 2): wide, triangular subocular cheek mark behind upper jaw; first dorsal fin dark membranes between spines 1–4; edges of caudal lobes dark; caudal peduncle with a complete dark wide bar, connected dorsally and ventrally, body uniform without pale bars; no dark saddle under the first or second dorsal fin; stomach and intestine black. Juveniles: similar to the adults.

Life colors. Kuiter and Kozawa (1999, p.34, A–C) provided three of underwater photographs of this species. Gon and Randall (2003, Pl.1A) published a photograph of a freshly collected specimen. An underwater photograph ( Fig. 6E ) shows the yellowish mark on the lachrymal and anterior infraorbitals, pale body bars, dark edges of dorsal fins, cheek mark and caudal-peduncle marks.

Distribution. Known only from the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden ( Fig. 7 ).

Remarks. See species comparison under remarks for Nectamia zebrinus . Günther (1859) used the combination Apogon annularis var. roseipinnis . Klausewitz (1959) suggested that Apogon annularis is a subspecies of Apogon aureus . These subspecies concepts have not been supported by any subsequent work. Klausewitz (1959) and Smith (1961) concluded that Apogon erdmani is a synonym of Apogon annularis and Fraser et al. (1999) came to the same conclusion.

Two males in USNM 212429 exhibited buccal enlargement but no eggs were found in their mouths. This species has been collected at the same stations with Nectamia zebrinus ( BPBM 19741 , 30388 , USMN 212423 ) in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden ( USMN 212421 ). The largest of 400 specimens was 66 mm SL .

TABLE 3 . Proportions as a percent of standard length for species of Nectamia . The proportions for primary types are followed

by parentheses for other types and additional material. The hyphen is a missing (unavailable) measurement from a specimen.

* SMF 1774 , 59.7 mm SL lectotype .

† RMNH 5584 , 71.2 mm SL, neotype .

‡ MNHN 8682 , 52.0 mm SL, neotype .

Figures

FIGURE 6. Underwater photographs of eight species of Nectamia. A. N. similis, new species, Calamian Is., Philippines, G. R. Allen. B. N. luxuria, new species, Andaman Sea, Thailand, U. Satapoomin. C. N. viria, new species, Raj Ampat, Indonesia, R. F. Myers. D. N. zebrinus, Red Sea, Egypt. R. F. Myers. E. N. annularis, Red Sea, Sudan, J. E. Randall. F. N. savayensis, Solomon Sea, Bougainville I., J. E. Randall G. N. bandanensis, Ogasawara Is., Japan, J. E. Randall. H. N. fusca, Red Sea, R. H. Kuiter.

FIGURE 7. Distribution of the material examined for Nectamia annularis and N. viria with regional total gill raker averages.

FIGURE 18. A hypothesis for phylogenetic relationships within Nectamia based characteristics in Tables 12 and 13. One of six best trees retained based on a heuristic search using parsimony was identical to the 50% majority rule consensus of 6664 trees. All 11 characters of equal weight were parsimony-informative. Holapogon maximus was used as an outgroup.