Acanthopagrus oconnorae, a new species of seabream (Sparidae) from the Red Sea
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
A new species of sparid fish, Acanthopagrus oconnorae, is described based on 11 specimens collected in the shallow (0–1 m depth) mangrove-adjacent sandflats of Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. The new species is distinguished from its congeners by the following combination of characters: second anal-fin spine 12.8%–16.6% of standard length (SL); 3½ scale rows between the fifth dorsal-fin spine and lateral line; suborbital width 5.7%–6.7% of SL; eyes positioned at the anterior edge of the head, often forming a weakly convex break in an otherwise gently curved head profile, when viewed laterally; caudal fin light yellow with black posterior margin (approximately half of fin); anal fin dusky grey, with posterior one-fifth of the fin light yellow; black streaks on inter-radial membranes of anal fin absent. The most similar species to A. oconnorae is Acanthopagrus vagus, which differs by the presence of a w-shaped anterior edge of the scaled predorsal area, a more acute snout and black streaks on the inter-radial membranes of the anal fin. Phylogenetic placement and species delimitation of A. oconnorae are discussed based on COI, CytB and 16S sequences. It is hypothesized that ecology and behaviour explain how this species avoided detection despite its likely occurrence in coastal areas of the Red Sea with historically high fishing pressure.
Date Issued
2022-10-01
Date Acceptance
2022-06-24
Citation
Journal of Fish Biology, 2022, 101 (4), pp.885-897
ISSN
0022-1112
Publisher
Wiley
Start Page
885
End Page
897
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Fish Biology
Volume
101
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Fish Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Fisheries Society of the British Isles. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35765159
Subjects
Red Sea
Sparidae
biodiversity
new species
phylogeny
seabream
taxonomy
Animals
Sea Bream
Phylogeny
Indian Ocean
Perciformes
Ecology
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
England
Date Publish Online
2022-06-28