Parrotfishes (Teleostei: Labridae: Scarini) of the Socotra Archipelago: Diversity and distributional biogeography, including a range extension of Scarus zufar Randall & Hoover, 1995
Author
Zajonz, Uwe
Senckenberg Research Institute and Museum of Nature (SMF), Marine Zoology-Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Author
Bogorodsky, Sergey V.
Senckenberg Research Institute and Museum of Nature (SMF), Marine Zoology-Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany. & Station of Naturalists, Omsk, Russia.
Author
Saeed, Fouad K. N.
Senckenberg Research Institute and Museum of Nature (SMF), Marine Zoology-Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany. & Environmental Protection Authority, Socotra Branch, Hadibo, Yemen.
Author
Aideed, Moteah S.
Senckenberg Research Institute and Museum of Nature (SMF), Marine Zoology-Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany. & Maritime Affairs Authority, Mukalla, Yemen.
Author
Lavergne, Edouard
text
Zootaxa
2023
2023-12-20
5389
3
301
330
https://mapress.com/zt/article/download/zootaxa.5389.3.1/52519
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.5389.3.1
1175-5326
10410051
3E7237B4-85C5-4581-B469-ED1C00154413
Scarus arabicus
(
Steindachner, 1902
)
Pseudoscarus arabicus
Steindachner, 1902: 318
;
holotype
:
NMW 72746
; type locality:
Mukalla
,
Yemen
,
Gulf
of
Aden
.
Arabian
Parrotfish
Figure 4
Material examined:
Underwater photograph;
SMF
uncatalogued [sample of tissue SOC19-468], initial phase,
26 cm
SL,
Socotra Island
,
Hadibo
fishmarket,
12 April 2019
;
SMF
uncatalogued [sample of tissue SOC19-485], terminal male,
46 cm
SL,
Socotra Island
,
Hadibo
fishmarket,
19 April 2019
.
Distinctive characters:
Body depth
2.4–2.7 in
SL; dorsal profile of head of terminal males steep and distinctly convex; posterior nostril subequal to anterior nostril; teeth fully fused to form dental plates, less than one-half covered by lips; cutting edge of dental plates slightly irregular; posterior margin of upper dental plate with 4 or 5 small blunt teeth; caudal fin slightly emarginate in terminal males. Meristic values: Pectoral-fin rays 15; median predorsal scales 4, about equal in size; cheek with 2 scale rows, lower row with 4–5 scales.
Colouration
: Initial phase gray-brown, the scale edges brown. Terminal males green often suffused with brown. Both phases with head pale blue-green ventrally, green front of snout, a broad pale blue-green band across interorbital which extends slightly behind orbit, dental plates blue-green, dorsal and anal fins colored like body with green-blue margin, and caudal fin with white posterior margin.
Distribution:
Restricted to the
Arabian
region, reported from the eastern Gulf of Aden to the Gulf of
Oman
(Randall 1995;
Lips
et al
. 2016
).
Remarks:
Observed individuals and collected specimens match the description of
Scarus arabicus
(
Randall & Bruce 1983
; Randall 1995), supporting the record of
Zajonz
et al
. (2019)
. Individuals on
Socotra Island
were observed on rocky substrata at depths of
5–
8 m
. Data on habitat and depth of collected specimens are not available. Previously known from
Socotra Island
(
Zajonz
et al
. 2019
), the distribution range is extended to the west by the observation of the initial phase and a terminal male in a mixed coral and rock reef area of south-eastern Abd al-Kuri
Island
.