Gymnothorax visakhaensis, Mohapatra & Smith & Mohanty & Mishra & Tudu, 2017

Mohapatra, Anil, Smith, David G., Mohanty, Swarup Ranjan, Mishra, Subhrendu Sekhar & Tudu, Prasad C., 2017, Gymnothorax visakhaensis sp. nov., a new species of elongate unpatterned moray eel (Muraenidae: Muraeninae) from the Indian Coast, Zootaxa 4300 (2), pp. 279-286 : 280-282

Gymnothorax visakhaensis sp. nov.

Proposed common name: Visakha Moray ( Figs. 1–4 ; Table-1)

Holotype. ZSI F 12075/2 (308 mm), Visakhapatnam fishing harbour (17° 42.452'N; 83° 18.823'E), Andhra Pradesh, along the south east coast of India, 0 6 December 2016.

Paratypes. MARC/ZSI/ F4780 (310 mm); MARC/ZSI/ F4781 (271 mm); MARC/ZSI/ F4782 (300 mm); MARC/ZSI/ F4783 (274 mm); MARC/ZSI/ F4784 (311 mm) and ZSI F 12076/2 (288 mm), collection details same as holotype.

Diagnosis. Gymnothorax visakhaensis sp. nov. shares the following combination of characters: body uniform brown, anus at about mid-point of body; snout blunt and moderate; eyes comparatively large and slightly closer to rictus than to tip of snout; dorsal-fin margin black; 2 branchial pores; 6 mandibular pores; sharply pointed and depressible teeth; intermaxillary teeth biserial, maxillary teeth uniserial; pre-dorsal vertebrae 7, pre-anal vertebrae 70–74, and total vertebrae 163–169.

Description. Proportions of total length: preanal length 1.9–2.1, predorsal length 11.7–12.3, head length (HL) 8.4–8.8, depth at gill opening 27.1–30.0, depth at anus 27.4–30.8. Proportions of head length: snout 4.6–5.5, horizontal eye diameter 8.8–11.0, upper jaw length 2.3–2.8, lower jaw length 2.5–3.1. Vertebrae: predorsal 7, preanal 70–74, total 163–169.

Body slender, elongate and tapering, anus at about midpoint. Dorsal and anal fins continuous with caudal fin around tail tip; dorsal-fin origin before gill opening, anal-fin origin immediately behind anus; pectoral and pelvic fins absent. Head long, snout blunt and short, eye relatively large, lower jaw slightly shorter than upper. Anterior nostril tubular and long, nearly reaching tip of snout. Posterior nostril a simple round pore, situated above anterior margin of eye. Gill opening a small slit on side below the mid-line. Branchial pores 2, anterior to gill opening, one of which is located before dorsal-fin origin; no lateral-line pores on body. Supraorbital pores 3: first (ethmoidal) near tip of snout just above lip, second above base of anterior nostril, third on snout between anterior and posterior nostrils. Infraorbital pores 4: first just behind base of anterior nostril, second on upper lip about midway between anterior nostril and anterior edge of eye, third below anterior margin of eye, fourth below posterior margin of eye. Mandibular pores 6, all before rictus.

The dental pattern is shown in Fig. 3 . Teeth in jaws smooth, needle-like, enlarged, sharply pointed and depressible. Intermaxillary teeth biserial, enlarged and fang-like, outer and inner series with 4 teeth on each side, outer row with one tooth near the mid-point of the two sides (1st median teeth); inner row also with one median tooth ( Fig. 4 ). Maxillary teeth uniserial, about 14 on each side. Vomerine teeth 5–6, uniserial. Dentary teeth uniserial with 12–14 teeth in each side, however in one specimen (ZSI F 12076/2; TL: 288 mm) the dentary is biserial with 5 teeth in the inner row.

Colour. Body uniformly dark brown without spots or patterns. Ventral portion of lower jaw to gill opening slightly lighter brown than rest of body. Snout darker (almost black) in comparison to rest of body. Margin of dorsal and anal fins black. Eye rim pale white. On preservation in formalin, the colour remains the same.

Distribution. The species is currently known only from the Andhra Pradesh coast of India in the Bay of Bengal.

Etymology. The species is named Gymnothorax visakhaensis with reference to the collection site Visakhapatnam fishing harbour.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Gymnothorax visakhaensis sp. nov. (Holotype, 308 mm TL). Pin denotes the origin of the dorsal and anal fins.

FIGURE 2. Lateral view of head and head pores of Gymnothorax visakhaensis sp. nov. (BP = branchial pore, IOP = infraorbital pore, MP = mandibular pore, PN = posterior nostril, SOP = supraorbital pore).

FIGURE 3. Dentition on upper jaw and lower jaw of Gymnothorax visakhaensis sp. nov.

FIGURE 4. Biserial intermaxillary teeth in upper jaw of Gymnothorax visakhaensis sp. nov.