Symphysanodon typus Bleeker, 1878

William D. Anderson, Jr. & Victor G. Springer, 2005, Review of the perciform fish genus Symphysanodon Bleeker (Symphysanodontidae), with descriptions of three new species, S. mona, S. parini, and S. rhax., Zootaxa 996, pp. 1-44 : 22

Symphysanodon typus Bleeker, 1878 .

Anderson (1970) reported 12 specimens (50-165 mm SL) of S. typus from Hawaii, New Guinea, Kai Islands, and Philippine Islands in depths of 119-236 m. We have examined 12 additional specimens (44-127 mm SL) not reported in the revision of the genus (Anderson, 1970): they are from the Hawaiian Islands (BPBM 24753; 93 mm SL.-BPBM 33426; 110 mm SL; taken from the stomach of a specimen of Pristipomoides [ Lutjanidae ]); off the island of Rotuma in the southwest Pacific (USNM 279253; 65 mm SL; taken from the stomach of a specimen of Seriola [ Carangidae ]; reported by Zug et al. 1989); off Papua New Guinea in the Gulf of Papua (WAM P.26769-003; 5: 84-107 mm SL); off Lombok, Indonesia (GMBL 81-162; 91 mm SL); the Philippines (GMBL 80-379; 2: 97-127 mm SL); and the South Pacific (presumably, actual locality of capture not known; GMBL 72-399; 44 mm SL). G David Johnson examined 10 specimens of S. typus at the MNHN; they were collected off Wallis and Futuna at 14°19’08”S, 178°04’08”W (MNHN 1995-0775; 9: 46-74 mm SL.-MNHN 2001-3339; 72 mm SL). Mark McGrouther and Sally Reader provided data on nine specimens of S. typus collected north of Townsville, Queensland, Australia (AMS I.25800-006; 110 mm SL.-AMS I.25811-009; 6: 104-132 mm SL.-AMS I.25828-002; 103 mm SL.-AMS I.25829-003; 109 mm SL). Depths of collection for the additional material range from 50 (50-100) - 440 (245-440) m.

Three earlier references to S. typus (Kamohara and Katayama, 1959; Katayama, 1960, 1968) are to specimens collected off Kashiwajima, Kochi Prefecture, Japan; all of which appear to be S. katayamai (see Anderson, 1970). Masuda et al. (1975, plate 51-K) presented an illustration labeled Symphysanodon typus that is of a specimen of S. katayamai . Fourmanoir (1981) identified two specimens collected by bottom trawl in 183 m in Philippine waters as S. typus and provided enough information for verification of his identification. On a note with two Philippine specimens (GMBL 80-379), Fourmanoir wrote “dorsal fin, inf. caudal lobe, opercular flap yellow.” Gloerfelt-Tarp and Kailola (1984:172-173) included a color photograph of this species in their book on southern Indonesian and northwestern Australian fishes and described the coloration as: “Scarletorange, paler below; head and lower caudal fin lobe bright yellow, dorsal fin bright yellow, membrane olive.” Seki and Callahan (1988) noted that Symphysanodon typus and S. maunaloae were among the fishes most frequently consumed by the lutjanid Pristipomoides zonatus at Pathfinder Reef, Mariana Archipelago, in April and May 1984. Lee (1989) presented a table comparing morphological characters of S. typus , S. katayamai , and S. maunaloae . Chave and Mundy (1994) and Chave and Malahoff (1998) reported S. typus , based on photographs made from submersibles, from depths of 80-245 m over hard substrates in waters of the Hawaiian Archipelago, and published a photograph (figure 31 in Chave and Mundy, 1994; figure 176 in Chave and Malahoff, 1998) taken in 153 m of an aggregation of fish identified by them as S. typus . Chave and Mundy (1994: 396) wrote of S. typus : “Aggregated in midwater near holes in cliffs. Darted into overhangs, holes, or caves when approached.” Myers (1999) reported S. typus in a tabular checklist of Micronesian fishes as occurring in the southern Marianas, which he defined as Guam to Saipan, and Myers and Donaldson (2003) included it in their checklist of Marianas fishes. Kimura et al. (2003) presented a short account and a color photograph of S. typus and reported the species from off Bitung, northeastern Sulawesi, Indonesia. The photograph in Kimura et al. (2003) shows a specimen of 110 mm SL that is mostly pink with posterior part of operculum yellow, dorsal fin greenish yellow, upper lobe of caudal fin pink, and lower lobe of caudal fin yellow. Symphysanodon typus , then, is widely distributed from the Hawaiian Islands to Indonesia and the Phillipines. Locality data for S. typus are plotted in Figure 9.