Parabothus budkeri ( Chabanaud, 1943 )

Fricke, Ronald, Golani, Daniel & Appelbaum-Golani, Brenda, 2019, New record of the rare flounder Parabothus budkeri (Chabanaud, 1943) (Teleostei: Bothidae) from the Gulf of Aqaba, northern Red Sea, with a key to the genus Parabothus, Cybium 43 (4), pp. 367-371 : 368-369

Parabothus budkeri ( Chabanaud, 1943)

Budker’s flounder

( Figs 1-2 , Tab. II)

Bothus budkeri Chabanaud, 1943: 397 (Hurghada, Egypt, Red Sea). Dor, 1984: 268 (in checklist). Goren and Dor, 1994: 71 (in checklist).

Parabothus budkeri : Chabanaud, 1949: 149 (redescription; change of genus to Parabothus ). Budker and Fourmanoir, 1954: 324 (in checklist). Desoutter et al., 2001: 303 (type catalogue). Amaoka and Shen, 1993: 1045 (comparison with P. taiwanensis ). Amaoka et al., 1997: 161 (comparison with P. filipes ). Golani and Bogorodsky, 2010: 53 (in checklist). Voronina and Causse, 2014: 149 (comparison with P. taiwanensis ). Voronina et al., 2017: 275 (comparison with P. rotundifrons ). Golani and Fricke, 2018: 174 (in checklist).

Material

HUJ 1635, 1 male, 49.7 mm SL, Red Sea , Gulf of Aqaba, Israel, Eilat, Apr. 1951 .

Description

Counts and measurements listed in table II are part of this description.

Body oval, body depth 1.9 in SL (51.9% of SL). Head length 3.4 in SL (29.2% of SL). Snout much shorter than eye diameter, slightly pointed, naked; snout and mandibular symphysis without obtuse knobs. Anterior teeth in upper jaw not enlarged, jaws each with a single row of curved teeth. Both nostrils situated anterior to the eyes, anterior nostril covered with a flap. Eyes large, eye diam- eters shorter than upper jaw length, lower eye situated anterior to upper eye. Upper orbit diameter 3.2 in head length (9.0% of SL); lower orbit diameter 3.4 in head length (8.4% of SL). Interorbital a moderately wide bony ridge, in the middle without scales but scaled anteriorly and posteriorly, interorbital distance 6.6 in head length (4.4% of SL). Gill rakers 1 + 11, not serrated. Scales ctenoid on orbital side, cycloid on blind side. Lateral line on ocular side strongly arched over pectoral fin (arch formed by anterior 13 scales); lateral-line scales 80; lateral line absent on blind side. Caudal peduncle depth 9.6 in SL (10.5% of SL). Precaudal vertebrae 10, caudal vertebrae 25 (see Fig. 4 ). Four caudal plates (i.e. parhypural, two hypurals, and hypural + epural) without subdivisions.

Dorsal fin with 83 soft rays. Anal fin with 59 soft rays. Caudal fin distally rounded, caudal fin rays iii, 11, iii. Length of longest caudal-fin ray 4.9 in SL (20.5% of SL). Pectoral fin with 11 soft rays on ocular side, with 11 rays on blind side. Pectoral-fin length 4.6 in SL (21.5% of SL) on ocular side, 6.9 in SL (14.5% of SL) on blind side. Pelvic-fin length 7.5 in SL (13.3% of SL) on ocular side, 9.2 in (10.9% of SL) on blind side.

Colour of preserved specimen ( Figs 1-2 ). Head and body yellowish brown on ocular side, upper parts of head brown, peritoneum pale. Ocular side of body with five indistinct double brown bars which are ocellated dorsally and ventrally. Blind side light brown, without any markings. Eyes dark grey. Dorsal fin with brown spots that are larger and more densely arranged above the body bars; dorsal fin with a distal blackish margin. Anal fin with five brown bars corresponding to the body bars. Pectoral fins yellowish, pectoral fin on the ocular side with a bar on its distal half matching the body bar below. Pelvic fins pale yellowish. Caudal fin with two basal brown spots, followed by two large brown blotches, distal half of fin rays also brown.

Distribution

Parabothus budkeri is known only from the Red Sea; it was collected near Hurghada ( Egypt) in the main body of the Red Sea, and at Eilat ( Israel in the northern Gulf of Aqaba ( Fig. 3 ). The species is known only from the northern Red Sea.

Figures

Figure 1. – Parabothus budkeri (Chabanaud, 1943), HUJ 1635, 1 male, 49.7 mm SL, Red Sea, Gulf of Aqaba, Israel, Eilat. Photograph by D. Golani. Ocular side.

Figure 2. – Parabothus budkeri (Chabanaud, 1943), HUJ 1635, 1 male, 49.7 mm SL, Red Sea, Gulf of Aqaba, Israel, Eilat. Photograph by D. Golani. Blind side.

Figure 3. - Geographical distribution of species of Parabothus in the Red Sea, Indian Ocean and western Pacific. Records based on examined specimens and literature (Amaoka and Imamura, 1990; Amaoka and Shen, 1993; Amaoka et al., 1997; Chabanaud 1943; Norman, 1934; Parin, 1983; Shen, 1983; Voronina and Causse 2014; Voronina et al., 2017). A: P. budkeri, new record; B: P. budkeri, type locality; C: P. coarctatus; D:P. filipes; E:P. kiensis; F: P. malhensis; G: P. polylepis; H: P. rotundifrons; J: P. taiwanensis.

Figure 4. – Parabothus budkeri (Chabanaud, 1943), HUJ 1635, 1 male, 49.7 mm SL, Red Sea, Gulf of Aqaba, Israel, Eilat. X-ray.