Plectranthias yamakawai Yoshino, 1972

Wibowo, Kunto, Peristiwady, Teguh, Makatipu, Petrus, Oktaviyani, Selvia, Oktaviani, Dian & Wahyudewantoro, Gema, 2025, First equatorial records of four marine fishes (Actinopterygii) caught off Lembeh Island, northern Sulawesi, Indonesia, Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria 55, pp. 1-9 : 1-9

Plectranthias yamakawai Yoshino, 1972

Fig. 2 A

Plectranthias yamakawai Yoshino, 1972. — Yoshino (1972): 53, fig. 3 (type locality Ryukyu Islands, southern Japan). — Randall (1980): 184 (southern Japan). — Wass (1984): 12 (Samoan Islands). — Chen and Shao (2002): 64 (Taiwan). — Motomura and Matsuura (2010): 99 (southern Japan). — Wada et al. (2020): 305 (southern Japan). — Cabebe-Barnuevo et al. (2022): 300 (Luzon, Philippines).

Material examined.

LBRC-F 3002, 182.5 mm SL, off Lembeh Island , Bitung, Indonesia, hook and line, 100–150 m depth (purchased at Girian Fish Market, Bitung, northern Sulawesi by T. Peristiwady, 22 December 2012) .

Description.

Dorsal fin with 10 spines and 16 soft rays; anal fin with 3 spines and 7 soft rays; pectoral fin with 13 rays, uppermost unbranched; pored lateral-line scales 32; scales above lateral line 5; scales below lateral line 16; gill rakers on upper limb of first gill arch 6, lower limb 12, total 18; body compressed, its depth 2.3 in SL; body width 2.2 in body depth; head length 2.3 in SL; snout length 3.9 in HL; orbit diameter 4.4 in HL; upper jaw length 2.2 in HL; interorbital width 7.3 in HL; caudal peduncle depth 2.3 in HL; caudal peduncle length 3.3 in HL; dorsal profile of head forming angle of about 30 ° to horizontal axis of head and body, mouth terminal, oblique; vomer and palatine with teeth; posterior margin of maxilla just reaching vertical through midline of pupil; pre-opercle with two antrorse spines on ventral margin; opercle with three flat spines, uppermost blunt, middle largest; fourth dorsal-fin spine longest, fifth to last spines becoming progressively shorter; origin of first anal-fin spine about level with origin of third dorsal-fin soft ray, second anal-fin spine longest, second anal-fin soft ray longest; pectoral-fin ray long, its tip beyond base of first anal-fin spine; pelvic fin short, posterior tip not reaching anus when depressed; caudal fin weakly emarginate, some upper and lower rays somewhat filamentous.

Color when fresh.

Body orange dorsally and rosy ventrally; dorsum of head and body, including dorsal and caudal fin bases, with numerous small distinctive, yellow-fringed dark greenish spots; large red spot just below lateral line at center of body; dorsal, anal and caudal fins yellowish; pectoral and pelvic fins reddish (Fig. 2 A ).

Remarks.

The Lembeh Island specimen agreed closely with the diagnostic characters of P. yamakawai given by Yoshino (1972), Randall (1980, 1996), Wada et al. (2020), and Cabebe-Barnuevo et al. (2022), viz. dorsal-fin soft rays 16; pectoral fin rays 13; pored lateral-line scales 32; pre-opercle with two antrorse spines on ventral margin; fourth dorsal-fin spine longest; dorsum of head and body, including dorsal and caudal fin bases, with numerous small distinctive yellow-fringed dark greenish spots; large red spot below lateral line at center of body. In addition, the specimen also matched the figure of the holotype of the species (see Randall 1980: 32) and the color photographs provided by Motomura et al. (2018: 97) and Cabebe-Barnuevo et al. (2022: fig. 1 A).

Plectranthias yamakawai has previously been reported only from southern Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines and Samoa, at latitudes of 15–30 ° N and 13 ° S ( Wass 1984; Motomura and Matsuura 2010; Wada et al. 2020; Cabebe-Barnuevo et al. 2022; fig. 3). The presently reported specimen, collected off Lembeh Island at a latitude of 1.4 ° N, represents the first record of P. yamakawai in equatorial and Indonesian waters.

Figures

Figure 2. Photographs of fresh specimens of (A) Plectranthias yamakawai, LBRC-F 3002, 182.5 mm SL and (B) Aulacocephalus temminckii, LBRC-F 402, 152.1 SL, collected off Lembeh Island, northern Sulawesi, Indonesia.