The lefteye flounder family Bothidae (Order Pleuronectiformes) of Taiwan
Author
Amaoka, Kunio
Author
Ho, Hsuan-Ching
text
Zootaxa
2019
2019-12-04
4702
1
155
215
journal article
24734
10.11646/zootaxa.4702.1.18
d2251320-5eef-450d-9703-2d2004e4962b
1175-5326
3562779
9108DB7D-3722-4F5C-BD76-F387E813BECB
Psettina variegata
(Fowler, 1933)
Variegated flounder;
ŧẻŝľ
Figure 9F
;
Table 12–13
Bothus (Crossobothus) variegatus
Fowler, 1934:335
(
Type
locality: the
Philippines
).
Psettina iijimae
(not of
Jordan
& Starks): Shen in
Shen
et al.
, 1993:570
.
Parabothus chlorospilus
(not of Gilbert): Shen in
Shen
et al.
, 1993:571
;
Shen & Wu, 2012:753
.
Specimens examined.
NMMB-P23202
(1, 121.8), Ke-tzu-liao,
18 Mar. 2016
;
NMMB-P23203
(1, 115.7), Ke-tzuliao,
3 Apr. 2016
;
NMMB-P26401
(2 of 4, 118.6–121.9), Ke-tzu-liao,
27 Jun. 2017
.
Diagnostic features.
D 101–107; A 78–82; P 12–13; C 2+13+2=17; LLs 75–77; GR 0+7–8=7–8; vert. 10+28– 29=38–39.
Body compressed, oblong, deepest at middle part of body (38.8–43.3% SL). Head rather large, about half of body depth (24.1–27.4% SL); front profile of head with shallow concavity in front of upper eye. Snout longer than 1/2 of eye diameter. Eye diameter about equal to upper jaw. Interorbital ridge extending from anterior margin of lower eye to posterior margin of upper eye.
Mouth very small, upper-jaw length on ocular side 7.1–8.9% SL; maxilla extending to anterior margin of lower eye; maxillary head with obtuse knob, a tiny knob at mandibular symphysis. Teeth on both jaws uniserial, close-set, gradually becoming large and more widely spaced anteriorly. Gill rakers on lower limb, short, slender, pointed at tip and not serrate; absent on upper limb.
Scales on ocular side small, ctenoid with one row of long hair-like ctenii; cycloid on blind side. Pectoral fin on ocular side much shorter than head (16.9–18.8% SL); that of blind side very short, about 1/2 of that of ocular side.
Coloration.
Ocular side of body uniformly darkish brown with 3 large dark blotches and small, obscure, irregularly shaped black spots; first blotch on junction between curved and straight sections of lateral line, second on middle of straight section of lateral line, and posteriormost blotch near caudal peduncle; a series of 5 dark obscure blotches along dorsal margin of body and 4 along ventral margin of body, extending to bases of dorsal and anal fins; caudal fin with large black blotch at its center; pectoral fin on ocular side with irregular shaped blackish bands; blind side of body milky white stained with dark in places.
Size.
Reaching
122 mm
SL in
Taiwan
, the largest known record.
Distribution.
Southwestern
Taiwan
off Ke-tzu-liao,
Kaohsiung
, at depth not more than
100 m
; the
Philippines
,
Hong Kong
, and Western Australia (
Amaoka & Larson, 1999
).
Remarks.
This is the first record of the species in
Taiwan
. It resembles
P. brevirictus
and
P. iijimae
in body shape, coloration and position of blotches. However, it can be easily distinguished from the other two species in having more lateral-line scales and growing to a larger size.
The figures of
Parabothus chlorospilus
and
Psettina iijimae
provided by Shen in
Shen
et al.
(1993)
and the figure of
Parabothus chlorospilus
provided by
Shen & Wu (2012)
are here all identified as
Psettina vairegata
by us.