Caesio xanthalytos, Holleman & Connell & Carpenter, 2013

Holleman, Wouter, Connell, Allan D. & Carpenter, Kent E., 2013, Caesio xanthalytos, a new species of fusilier (Perciformes: Caesionidae) from the Western Indian Ocean, with records of range extensions for several species of Caesionidae, Zootaxa 3702 (3), pp. 262-272 : 263-264

Key to the species of the subgenus Caesio

1a Supra-temporal scale band divided ( Fig. 1A )................................................................ 2

1b Supra-temporal scale band confluent ( Fig. 1B ).............................................................. 3

2a Single yellow, longitudinal band in life, 4 or 5 scales broad for most of its length and directly above lateral line for most of its length; caudal-fin lobes with dark streaks, but without darker tips (western Indian Ocean to Samoa)......... C. caerulaurea

2b Four to six yellow, longitudinal stripes in life, stripes usually only 2 scales wide, and interspersed with bluish stripes; lateral line prominent as a dark line in a blue stripe, caudal-fin lobes with blackish blotches, darkest at tips (Indian Ocean, Red Sea and Persian Gulf, to western Indonesia).......................................................... C. varilineata

3a Four narrow, black, longitudinal stripes in life, with yellow stripe between two middle black stripes; caudal fin with black streak within each lobe, tips with small, black blotches (Red Sea only).................................... C. striata

3b Broad, composite yellow longitudinal band in life, 6 scale rows at widest, with irregular dark stripe either side and a single scale-wide blue stripe, down the middle, above the lateral line; lateral line within yellow stripe for most of its length; (WIO: Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique and KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa)........................... C. xanthalytos sp. nov.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Supratemporal scale band of (A) Caesio caerulaurea, ‘V’-notched, and (B) C. xanthalytos, confluent.