Ariosoma fasciatum (Gunther, 1872)

Smith, David G., Ho, Hsuan-Ching, Huang, Jian-Fu & Chang, Yong-Hsu, 2018, The congrid eel genus Ariosoma in Taiwan (Anguilliformes: Congridae), with description of a new species, Zootaxa 4454 (1), pp. 84-106 : 94-95

Ariosoma fasciatum (Gunther, 1872)

BARRED SAND CONgER ; 條紋錐體糯鰻

FIgS. 3D , 7 ; TAbLE 2

Poeciloconger fasciatus GüNTHEr, 1872:673 (TyPE LOcaLITy: MaNadO, SuLaWESI, INdONESIa).

Ariosoma nancyae SHEN, 1998a:10, fIgS. 3A‒B, 5C, 6C (TyPE LOcaLITy: NaN-faNg-aO fISH markET, NE TaIWaN).

Ariosoma fasciatum (GüNTHEr, 1872) : SHEN, 1998b:107. HO & SHaO, 2011:23, TabLE 1. HO et al., 2015a: TabLE 3. HO et al., 2015b:144.

Material examined. 11 SPEcIMENS, 308‒830 MM TL. FRIP 21190 (1, 608), CHENg-gONg, TAITuNg, 22 JuL. 2005 . NTUM 7871 (1, 750, HOLOTYPE Of A. nancyae ), NAN-fANg-AO fISH MARkET, NE TAIWAN, bOTTOM TRAWL, 15 SEP. 1987 . LSUMZ 13544 (1, 543), TAIWAN . NMMB-P23571 (1, 810), DAxI, 3 Aug. 2016. TOU-AE 1579 (1, 413), CHANgbIN, TAITuNg, 25 Aug. 2005 . TOU-AE 1664 (1, 472), TAITuNg, 2004. TOU-AE 3156 (1, 830). TOU-AE 4534 (1, 398), CHANgbIN, TAITuNg, 6 Aug. 2007 . USNM 398476 (1, 509), CHANg-bIN, 21 OcT. 2008. OTHER LOcALITIES. BMNH 1871.7 .20.63 (1, 308), HOLOTYPE Of Poeciloconger fasciatus , MANADO, SuLAWESI, INDONESIA . BMNH 1881.10.18.3 (1, 509), TAHITI.

Diagnosis. BODY RObuST; bLAck SPOTS AND PATcHES ON HEAD, 10‒14 bLAck bLOTcHES OR SADDLES AcROSS DORSAL fIN AND bODY; DORSAL-fIN ORIgIN WELL IN fRONT Of PEcTORAL-fIN bASE; INTERORbITAL SPAcE bROAD AND fLATTENED; VOMERINE TEETH IN A bROAD PATcH ExTENDINg TO AbOuT HALf THE LENgTH Of THE MAxILLARY TEETH ROWS; HEAD PORE SYSTEM cOMPLEx WITH MuLTIPLE PORES (SEE bELOW); TOTAL VERTEbRAE 155‒158; AND TOTAL LATERAL-LINE PORES 145‒147.

Description. BODY RObuST, ANuS SLIgHTLY bEfORE MIDLENgTH, DORSAL-fIN ORIgIN WELL bEfORE gILL OPENINg. JAWS MODERATELY LONg, uPPER jAW PROjEcTINg SLIgHTLY bEYOND TIP Of LOWER jAW, INTERMAxILLARY TEETH PARTLY cONcEALED WHEN MOuTH cLOSED. EYE WELL DEVELOPED, MIDDLE Of EYE OVER RIcTuS. INTERORbITAL SPAcE bROAD, SLIgHTLY cONcAVE. SNOuT AND INTERORbITAL SPAcE VERY bROAD, TIP Of SNOuT TRIANguLAR IN DORSAL VIEW.

TEETH SMALL, cONIcAL, MuLTISERIAL; MAxILLARY AND INTERMAxILLARY TEETH cONTINuOuS; TEETH ON POSTERIOR 2/3 Of INNERMOST ROW Of MAxILLARY bLuNT. VOMERINE TEETH IN AN ELONgATE PATcH ENDINg bEHIND MIDPOINT Of MAxILLARY TOOTH PATcH.

HEAD PORE ARRANgEMENT cLEARLY DIffERENT fROM ALL OTHER cONgENERS, WITH cLuSTERS Of SMALL PORES INSTEAD Of SINgLE PORES. SO SERIES WITH 1 IRREguLAR ROW Of 4‒5 PORES ON SNOuT TIP, fOLLOWED bY 1‒3 SMALL PORES AbOVE POSTERIOR NOSTRIL, SOME WITH A fEW SMALL PORES bETWEEN ANTERIOR NOSTRILS AND 3‒6 SMALL PORES ON INTERORbITAL SPAcE. MANDIbuLAR SERIES WITH 4‒5 PORES IN ANTERIOR HALf, AND IN POSTERIOR PART 3 OR 4 cLuSTERS Of 2‒5 SMALLER PORES. PREOPERcuLAR SERIES WITH 2 ROWS Of 3‒5 PORES, THE LAST Of EAcH ROW LARgEST. FOuR LARgE PORES IN IO SERIES ALONg uPPER jAW AND 4 SINgLE OR 4 cLuSTERS Of 3‒5 SMALL PORES bEHIND EYE. SOME ADDITIONAL SMALL PORES MAY bE PRESENT ON INTERORbITAL SPAcE. THREE TO 7 PORES ON SuPRATEMPORAL cOMMISSuRE.

LIgHT bROWN bAckgROuND WITH PROMINENT bLAck SPOTS AND PATcHES ON HEAD, 10‒14 bLAck bLOTcHES OR SADDLES AcROSS DORSAL fIN AND bODY, AND bLAck MARgIN ON ANAL fIN.

Size. MAxIMuM SIzE AT LEAST 830 MM TL.

Distribution. WIDESPREAD IN THE INDO-WEST PAcIfIc REgION fROM MADAgAScAR TO THE HAWAIIAN AND SOcIETY ISLANDS. FOuND ON SANDY bOTTOM IN SHALLOW WATER.

Remarks. Ariosoma fasciatum WAS ORIgINALLY DEScRIbED AS THE TYPE SPEcIES Of Poeciloconger GüNTHER, 1872. SHEN (1998b) SYNONYMIzED Poeciloconger WITH Ariosoma , buT SMITH (1999) REcOgNIzED THE fORMER AS A VALID gENuS. CONSIDERINg THE VERY DISTINcT MORPHOLOgY Of HEAD SENSORY PORE SYSTEM AND OTHER MORPHOLOgIcAL DIffERENcES, THIS MAY bE WARRANTED TO DETERMINE THE PROPER DEfINITION Of THE VARIOuS gENERA. HOWEVER, REcENT DNA bARcODINg STuDIES (DGS, uNPubL. DATA) SHOW THAT THIS SPEcIES IS DEEPLY NESTED WITH OTHER TAIWANESE Ariosoma SPEcIES, AND WE THEREfORE RETAIN IT IN THE gENuS. IT IS ALSO NOTAbLE THAT THE bOuNDARY bETWEEN PREcAuDAL AND cAuDAL VERTEbRAE IS uSuALLY cLEAR IN OTHER cONgENERS, buT IS LESS DISTINguISHAbLE IN A. fasciatum . THE SPEcIES MAY HAVE A RELATIVELY HIgHER PREcAuDAL VERTEbRAE cOuNT cOMPARED TO THE TOTAL NuMbER Of VERTEbRAE THAN OTHER cONgENERS ( TAbLE 2).

CASTLE (1990) DEScRIbED A SEcOND SPEcIES Of Poeciloconger , P. kapala fROM AuSTRALIA. HOWEVER, THIS SPEcIES LAckS THE bLOTcHES AND bARS cHARAcTERISTIc Of fAScIATuS AND HAS NORMAL HEAD PORES. EVEN If Poeciloconger WERE REcOgNIzED AS A gENuS, kapala WOuLD NOT bELONg THERE. WE PROVISIONALLY REcOgNIzE Poeciloconger kapala CASTLE (1990) AS A MEMbER Of Ariosoma .

Figures

FIGURE 3. UPPEr-jaW TEETH Of Ariosoma SPEcIES. A. A. anago, TOU-AE5499. B. A. dolichopectrum, NMMB-P23477. C. A. emmae sp. nov., ParaTyPE, NMMB-P26426. D. A. fasciatum, NMMB-P23571. NOT TO ScaLE.

FIGURE 7. Ariosoma fasciatum (GuNTHEr, 1872), NMMB-P23571, 810 mm TL.