Parupeneus sinai, Uiblein, 2021

Uiblein, Franz, 2021, Taxonomic review of the “ posteli-species group ” of goatfishes (genus Parupeneus, Mullidae), with description of a new species from the northern Red Sea, Cybium 45 (1), pp. 63-77 : 74

Parupeneus sinai n. sp.

Sinai Goatfish

( Figs 1 , 3F ; Tab. II)

Parupeneus sp. : Randall (2004: 3).

Material examined

Holotype. – MNHN 1967-0557 , 83 mm SL, northern Red Sea, most likely Gulf of Suez ; collector: Robert-Philippe Dollfus, collected between December 1927 and March 1929.

Diagnosis

Pectoral fins 15; lateral-line scales 27; gill rakers 8 + 28-29 = 36-37; measurements in % SL (only small-sized fish available): body depth at first dorsal-fin origin 24; body depth at anus 20; caudal-peduncle depth 8.7; maximum head depth 21; head depth through eye 18; interorbital length 7.5; head length 32; snout length 13; postorbital length 10; orbit length 8.3; upper jaw length 12; barbel length 26; caudal-peduncle length 23; height of second anal-fin ray 14; pelvic-fin length 24; pectoral-fin length 24; height of second dorsal-fin spine 18; height of third dorsal-fin spine 20 and height of ninth dorsal-fin ray 7.7; posterior margin of maxilla evenly, rather symmetrically rounded; snout dorsally elevated; preserved fish pale brown.

Description

Quantitative morphological characters

Measurements in % SL and counts are given in table II; morphometric data as ratios of SL for holotype: body moderately elongate, body depth at first dorsal-fin origin 4.2; body depth at anal-fin origin 4.9; head length 3.2, greater than maximum body depth; snout rather long (7.4), much longer than postorbital length (9.4) and only slightly shorter than anal-fin height (6.9); eyes large, orbit length 12.1, only slightly smaller than caudal peduncle depth (11.5); jaws relatively short (upper-jaw length 8.3), not reaching to below anterior orbit margin; barbels long (3.8), reaching well beyond level of preopercular margin; first dorsal fin with well-developed, but tiny first spine (34); second dorsal-fin spine 5.8, lower than third spine (5.0); pelvic and pectoral fins equal in length (4.1), longer than caudal peduncle (4.4); penultimate and ultimate (eighth and ninth) dorsal-fin rays rather low and subequal in height (13), lower than last (seventh) anal-fin ray (11).

Qualitative morphological characters

Mouth small, slightly supraterminal, posterior margin of maxilla evenly, rather symmetrically rounded with a weak dorsoposterior extension; snout dorsally elevated, not in line with dorsal head contour; anterior nostril a rounded flat tube at level of ventral pupil margin, posterior nostril a tiny vertical slit in front of mid eye; interorbital space flat; a single flat spine posterior on operculum at level of ventral pupil margin; lateral line conspicuous, anteriorly slightly convex until level of second dorsal-fin origin, then nearly straight; 2.5 scale rows above lateral line, ca. 5.5 rows below, second dorsal-fin origin positioned slightly anterior of anal-fin origin; pectoral fins and first dorsal fin pointed.

Colour

Preserved HT with mostly uniformly pale-brown head and body; head from behind jaws to lower orbit margin with an oblique brown bar of about pectoral-fin width which passes eye posteriorly and ends near preopercular margin behind eye; fins pale brown and partly hyaline.

Etymology

Named after the Sinai Peninsula which borders the northern Red Sea including the Gulf of Suez and Gulf of Aqaba, where the specimen is assumed to have been collected by Robert-Philippe Dollfus (1887-1976), French zoologist, ichthyologist and parasitologist, during his research mission in that area from December 1927 to March 1929 ( Dollfus, 1931). The species name is used as a noun in apposition.

Distribution and size

Northern Red Sea, possibly Gulf of Suez, locality and depth unknown; attains at least 8.3 cm SL.

Remarks

Due to a partly damaged jaw on the left side, only the right head and body are shown in figure 3F, with the image reversed to facilitate comparisons. Inspection of a radiograph of the HT of P. sinai n. sp. revealed that the dorsally elevated snout structure is the result of a particularly high ascending process of the premaxilla (see also Kim, 2002).

Figures

Figure 1. – Relationships among eight morphometric characters including SL and total number of gill rakers in the five posteli-group species and three populations of Parupeneus posteli.

Figure 3. – A-E: Parupeneus posteli; A: SAIAB 83959, 88 mm SL, Baissac Bank, southern Mascarene Plateau (O. Alvheim and D. Twed- dle); B: SAIAB 83959, 90 mm SL, same locality details (O. Alvheim and D. Tweddle); C: SAIAB 83898, 105 mm SL, Soudan Bank, southern Mascarene Plateau (O. Alvheim and D. Tweddle); D: large-sized fish (SL unknown), Réunion, Mascarene Islands (P. Guézé); E: MNHN 1965-0056, HT, 150 mm SL, same locality details (MNHN); F: Parupeneus sinai n. sp., MNHN 1967-0557, HT, 83 mm SL, north- ern Red Sea, right side shown, image reversed (F. Uiblein). Scale bars = 20 mm.