Review of the steatiticus - species group of the cuskeel genus Neobythites (Ophidiidae) from the Indo-Pacific, with description of two new species
Author
Uiblein, Franz
Author
Nielsen, Jørgen G.
text
Zootaxa
2018
2018-02-26
4387
1
157
173
journal article
30651
10.11646/zootaxa.4387.1.7
a9edfada-4b67-44f9-8b4f-4ea85407ce13
1175-5326
1186736
45B4B1FD-5DC6-4D13-9470-B729013E2D8E
Neobythites meteori
Nielsen, 1995
(
Figures 1–2
,
Tables 1
,
3
)
Neobythites meteori
Nielsen,1995
: 7
, fig. 6a.
Neobythites unimaculatus
:
Kotthaus 1979
: 13
, fig. 462.
Holotype
.
ZMH 5621
(female,
102 mm
SL), off
southwestern Socotra Island
,
Yemen
,
NW Indian Ocean
,
11°33.9' N
,
52°54' E
;
RV
Meteor
, st. 102,
Agassiz
trawl;
175–337 m
depth;
20 Dec. 1964
.
Diagnosis
. Flat process on hind margin of preopercle; dorsal fin-rays 91; anal-fin rays 75; pectoral fin-rays 27; precaudal vertebrae 13; total vertebrae 53; pseudobranchial filaments 3; long gill rakers on anterior arch 6; head length 22.0 % SL; pelvic-fin length 11.0 % SL, pelvic fins not reaching anus; orbit length 4.1–4.9 % SL, 22.0 % head length, and and 2.0 times in upper-jaw length; longest gill filament 2.8 % SL and 13.0 % head length; ocellus spot placed above anus, the ocellus-spot distance being 39.0 % SL, and the spot covering 9 dorsal-fin rays; dorsal and anal fins not pigmented; no vertical bars on body; otolith length 4.6 % SL.
Distribution
. Off Sokotra Island, NW Indian Ocean, at
175–337 m
depth.
Remarks.
In his review,
Nielsen (1995: 8)
included a second specimen (from off Lombok) as
Neobythites meteori
without designated it as
paratype
. This specimen is described as
N. lombokensis
n. sp
.
in the current paper. A photo of the freshly caught specimen, later to become the
holotype
of
N. meteori
, shows no dark margins or bands on dorsal and anal fins (
cf
.
Kotthaus 1979
). Also, the otolith of the
holotype
of
N. meteori
turned out to be in bad condition allowing us only to measure otolith length and height.