Choerodon (Lienardella) ( Fowler & Bean, 1928 )

Martin F., Martin F., 2017, A review of the tuskfishes, genus Choerodon (Labridae, Perciformes), with descriptions of three new species, Memoirs of Museum Victoria 76, pp. 1-111 : 55-56

Choerodon (Lienardella) ( Fowler & Bean, 1928)

Table 2

Lepidaplois (Lienardella) Fowler & Bean, 1928: 202 , type species

– Lepidaplois mirabilis Snyder (= C. fasciatus ) by monotypy.

Diagnosis. Dorsal fin rays XII, 8; anal fin rays III, 10; pectoral fin rays ii, 13, dorsalmost ray of moderate length 21.3–34.5% pectoral fin length, ventralmost rays shorter than those above, posterior edge of fin obliquely straight, dorsoposterior corner bluntly pointed, posteroventral corner angular to broadly rounded; body moderately deep, 40.7–44.7% SL, caudal peduncle depth 15.1–17.1% SL, head depth 27.8–31.9% SL; head bluntly pointed, dorsal profile of snout moderately steep, snout length 10.5–14.9% SL; predorsal scales approximately 10–14, reaching forward on dorsal midline to above centre of eye; cheek with small partially embedded scales in about eight or nine diagonal rows, posteriormost with about 10 scales to upper extent of free preopercular edge, reaching forward almost to corner of upper lip crease above mouth, with very broad naked margin posteriorly and ventrally on preopercle; 1 or 2 rows of about 8 small scales (only about 2 scales in second row when present) on subopercle adjacent preopercular edge extending forward nearly to anterior end of ventral preopercular margin; each lateral line scale with unbranched laterosensory canal tube; scales above lateral line about 3½; cephalic sensory canal pores confined to lines or short branches associated with major canals on top of head, scattered pores more numerous anteroventral to eye; second pair of canines in lower jaw mostly straight directed dorsolaterally; dorsal and anal fins with relatively deep scaley basal sheath comprising approximately about 2–4 enlarged scales; posterior lobe of dorsal and anal fins reaching just short of hypural crease; caudal fin truncate, corners pointed; pelvic fin not reaching anus, length 21.1– 25.6% SL. (See Table 2 for additional meristic and morphometric ranges.) Head and body with prominent vertical bands, dark grey and white in juveniles, red to black and white in adults.

Comments. Fowler and Bean (1928) erected Lienardella as a subgenus of Lepidaplois (= Bodianus ), saying they had examined the type specimen of the type species L. mirabili s Snyder and believed it to be allied with the subgenus Lepidaplois . Oddly, the statement immediately followed a diagnosis of the genus Lepidaplois where they obviously overlooked the discrepancy in dorsal and anal fin rays counts between Lepidaplois and L. mirabilis . They also failed to recognise the similarity of meristic values of L. mirabilis with those provided in their preceding treatment of Choerodon , despite the incomplete nature of the diagnosis in the latter. The name was subsequently elevated to genus by Myers (1939: 88) and then synonymised with Choerodon by Gomon (1997: 809).

This monotypic subgenus (fig. 1, clade 4a) is strikingly patterned, the starkly contrasting black and white bands of adults distinctly unlike colour patterns of other species. Predorsal scales in the one species reach to above the centre of the eyes, well in advance of that in all others, except C. monostigma and C. vitta , which have predorsal scales extending almost as far or as far forwards. The scaley basal sheaths on the dorsal and anal fins are also considerably deeper than those of other species.