Brachypterois Fowler 1938

Matsunuma, Mizuki, Sakurai, Makoto & Motomura, Hiroyuki, 2013, Revision of the Indo-West Pacific genus Brachypterois (Scorpaenidae: Pteroinae), with description of a new species from northeastern Australia, Zootaxa 3693 (4), pp. 401-440 : 404-406

Genus Brachypterois Fowler 1938

Brachypterois Fowler 1938: 79 , fig. 35 (type species: Brachypterois serrulifer Fowler 1938 ; type by original designation and monotypy)

Ranipterois Whitley 1950: 407 (type species: Brachypterois serrulifer Fowler 1938 ; unnecessary replacement name for Brachypterois Fowler 1938 ; objective synonym of Brachypterois )

Type species. Brachypterois serrulifer Fowler 1938

Definition. A genus of the family Scorpaenidae , subfamily Pteroinae , defined by following combination of characters: dorsal fin usually with 13 (rarely 12 or 14) spines; anal fin with 3 spines; pectoral fin with 5–8 branched rays; caudal fin usually with 3 unsegmented procurrent rays in upper and lower series; maxilla covered by scales; mandible with distinct ridges; occiput flat with scales; dorsal, anal and pelvic fin spines with developed notches with poison glands; palatine teeth absent; orbit and suborbital ridge distinctly closed; 5 preopercular spines.

Description. Characters given in the generic definition are not repeated here, except for counts of fin rays. Dorsal fin with 13 spines and 10 soft rays (rarely XII, 11; XIII, 9 or 11; XIV, 9 or 10). Anal fin with 3 spines and 5 soft rays (rarely III, 4 or 6). Pelvic fin with 1 spine and 5 soft rays. Gill rakers simple, short and robust, longest raker on first gill arch shorter or subequal to gill filaments around angle of gill arch; gill rakers on lower limb around angle of first gill arch more or less branched into two; fourth gill slit narrow (partially closed by membrane). Branchiostegal rays 7. Vertebrae 10 + 14 (rarely 9 + 14, 10 + 15 or 11 + 13). Formula for configuration of supraneural bones, anterior neural spines and anterior dorsal pterygiophores usually //2+1/1/1/1/1/1/1/1/1/1+1/. Swimbladder present.

Body oblong, moderately compressed anteriorly, strongly compressed posteriorly. Head large, its length greater than body depth. Low membranous tube associated with anterior and posterior nostrils; posterior edge of tube on anterior nostril slightly expanded. Numerous small papillae sometimes present on frontal surface of bulge of snout and chin. Ctenoid scales covering on head, including cheek, lacrimal, suborbital pit, interopercle, subopercle, opercle, posterodorsal pit of supraocular, channel between interorbital ridges, occiput and suprapostorbital area surrounded by parietal, pterotic, lower posttemporal and cleithral spine bases; scales absent on both lips and bulge of snout. Maxilla with weakly ctenoid scales; posterior portion of maxilla almost entirely scaled or partly scaled as one-third maxilla depth. Mandible usually with exposed weakly ctenoid scales; sometimes with embedded cycloid scales or lacking scales in large adults. Ctenoid scales covering on body and extending onto base of caudal fin; scales on ventral body surface relatively weak; pectoral-fin base covered with weakly ctenoid scales; a row of elongated cycloid scales on bases of soft-rayed portions of dorsal and anal fin. Lateral line complete, weakly downward sloping posteriorly. Three sensory pores on underside of each dentary; a small pore on each side of symphysial knob.

Mouth moderately large, oblique, forming an angle of ca. 40–50° to horizontal axis of head and body; upper edge of maxilla swollen laterally forming a low ridge; usually with a median lateral ridge; posterior end of maxilla just reaching a vertical through mid-orbit. Width of symphysial gap separating premaxillary teeth bands about twice that of each band; upper jaw with a band of small slender conical teeth; about 4–6 tooth rows at front of upper jaw; about 4 tooth rows at front of lower jaw. Vomer with a V-shaped patch of 1–5 rows of small teeth.

Dorsal profile of snout steep, forming an angle of ca. 40° to horizontal axis of head and body. Nasal spine on relatively long ridge-like base, its length subequal to distance between anterior and posterior nostrils; with 1–2 rows of 1–15 small spines. Interorbital ridges moderately developed, with a row of 0–19 spines; separated by a shallow channel, initially divergent posteriorly; sometimes conjoined with origin of coronal spine base. Interorbital space shallow, about one-seventh of orbit diameter extending above dorsal profile of head. Coronal spine with 1–5 small spinous points on short base; base conjoined with origin of parietal spine base; 0–6 small spines forming a pair of small patches between origins of coronal spine base. Tympanic with 2 spinous ridges; upper ridge shorter than lower ridge with 2–8 spines; lower ridge with 2–20 spines. Preocular with 3–28 spines on its frontal surface and margin of orbit. Supraocular with a transverse ridge located between interorbital ridge and outer edge of supraocular, with 3–15 spines; 9–35 spines on margin of orbit; posterodorsal edge of supraocular expanded posteriorly, with a small inner pit. Postocular with 3–16 spines on margin of orbit. Occipital area lacking anterior ridge; a pair of short low ridges with 0–9 spines on posterior margin between parietal spine bases. Parietal spine with 7–23 spinous points on a relatively long ridge diverging posteriorly; a short ridge with 0–7 spines just under posterior portion of parietal ridge. Sphenotic spine with 5–32 spinous points. No postorbital spine. Pterotic spine with 5–27 spinous points. Small patch of 0–4 spines behind pterotic spine. One or two short oblique ridges with 0– 13 spines between parietal spine and lower posttemporal spine. No upper posttemporal spine. Lower posttemporal spine with 1–13 spinous points on a relatively short ridge; a short oblique ridge with 0–5 spines just above posterior portion of spine base; one or two small patches of 0–7 spines in front of spine. Supracleithral spine with 0–6 spinous points on a relatively short ridge. Cleithral spine with 2–14 spinous points on a relatively long ridge.

Anterior portion of articular head of maxilla with 0–8 spines; lateral portion of articular head exposed when mouth closed, with 0–5 spines. Inner edge of dentary elevated as a low ridge; central dentary ridge running along sensory canal, comprising 2 ridges posteriorly in large adults; outer margin of dentary a low ridge; tip of ventral surface of dentary slightly expanded ventrally. Outer edge of angular a low ridge; inner angular ridge running along sensory canal. Retroarticular with 0–3 spines. Lacrimal with 2 lateral ridges (single in juveniles less than about 40 mm SL); upper ridge with 4–7 spines, its anterior origin conjoined with ridge on dorsal articular process of lacrimal; lower ridge with 1–6 spines. Anterior lacrimal spine with 1–6 spinous points, directed downward. Posterior lacrimal spine with 2–8 spinous points; all ridges on lacrimal strongly spinous. Suborbital with 2 ridges; both ridges with supplementary upper and lower ridges; posterior upper ridge branched into two posteriorly; 2 small arched ridge below anterior and posterior ridges, sometimes covered with tiny skin with numerous small pores; all ridges strongly spinous (21–89 spines in total). Poorly developed suborbital pit present. Preopercle spines with one or more spinous points; lateral ridge of uppermost spine with 0–5 spines. A ridge of preopercle submargin strongly spinous. Interopercle with 0–10 spines on distal margin. Upper opercular spine with 1–4 spinous points, somewhat covered with skin; a simple lower opercular spine sometimes present, but usually under skin.

Origin of first dorsal-fin spine above cleithral spine; bases of first and second dorsal-fin spines closer than those of succeeding adjacent spines; length of longest spine about half maximum body depth; penultimate (usually twelfth) spine usually shortest; membranes of spinous portion of dorsal fin strongly incised, especially in anterior portion. Dorsal-fin soft rays all branched; length of longest ray subequal to or slightly longer than that of longest fin spine; posteriormost ray not joined by membrane to caudal peduncle. Origin of first anal-fin spine below base of penultimate (usually twelfth) dorsal-fin spine; third spine longest. Anal-fin soft rays all branched; second (rarely first or third) soft ray longest, its length longer than that of longest dorsal-fin soft ray; posteriormost ray not joined by membrane to caudal peduncle. Pectoral fin long; usually fifth (branched ray) and tenth (unbranched ray) rays longest in relatively small and large specimens, respectively, but highly variable; tip of longest ray extending well beyond a vertical through base of first anal-fin spine, sometimes reaching a vertical through base of last anal-fin soft ray, but not reaching caudal-fin base; lower unbranched rays weakly thickened. Pelvic-fin soft rays all branched; third (rarely second) ray longest, much longer than upper jaw; tip of longest ray not reaching to anus when depressed; last ray joined by membrane to abdomen for about one-fourth to one-third its length. Caudal fin rounded, usually with 3 procurrent, 2 segmented unbranched, and 5 segmented branched rays in dorsal series, and 3 procurrent, 2 segmented unbranched, and 5 segmented branched rays in ventral series.

Remarks. Fowler (1938) proposed Brachypterois as a new monotypic genus for his new species, B. serrulifer , stating that Brachypterois was characterized by having the following characters: short dorsal-fin spine, its length shorter than that of dorsal-fin soft ray; pectoral fin long, its posterior tip reaching near caudal-fin base; ridges on head serrated, including mandible; no dermal flap or cirri on head and body. Subsequently, the presence of spinous ridges on the mandible has been considered by several researchers (e.g., Kanayama & Amaoka 1981; Eschmeyer 1986; and Poss 1999) as the main diagnostic feature of Brachypterois . However, it is now known that Brachypterois is sexually dimorphic for this character (see under Sexual dimorphism).

Whitely (1951) proposed Ranipterois as a replacement name for Brachypterois Fowler 1938 , with B. serrulifer as the type species, regarding Brachypterois Fowler to be preoccupied by “ Brachypterois Günther ” as stated in Jordan & Seale (1906: 189). However, that usage by Jordan & Seale (1906) was a lapsus calumni for the genus Bathypterois Günther 1878 (Ipnopidae) . Therefore, Ranipterois should be treated as an unnecessary replacement name and an objective synonym of Brachypterois Fowler 1938 (Kanayama & Amaoka, 1981; this study).

Some previously publishes illustrations of Brachypterois [e.g., B. serrulifer in Fowler (1938: 80, fig. 35); B. serrulata in Poss (1999: 2310, unnumbered fig. on bottom); and Nakabo (2002: 567, unnumbered fig. on top)] have shown broad membranes in the spinous portion of the dorsal-fin. However, underwater photographs of live individuals of Brachypterois have shown strongly incised spinous dorsal fin membranes (see Allen et al. 2003; Allen & Erdmann 2012), supporting Barnhart & Hubbs (1946), who pointed out the inconsistency in dorsal fin membrane shape between the figure of B. serrulifer given by Fowler (1938) and the holotype of the species.