Five new ocellus-bearing species of the cusk-eel genus Neobythites (Ophidiidae, Ophidiiformes) from the West Pacific, with establishment of three new species groups Author Uiblein, Franz Institute of Marine Research, P. O. Box 1870 Nordnes, N- 5817 Bergen, Norway. Corresponding author; & National Research Foundation - South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity, Makhanda / Grahamstown, South Africa & Vietnam National Museum of Nature, Hanoi, Vietnam Author Nielsen, Jørgen G. Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Denmark text Zootaxa 2023 2023-08-22 5336 2 179 205 http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5336.2.2 journal article 10.11646/zootaxa.5336.2.2 1175-5326 8272417 7BD6357E-BB67-44E9-B028-4CA7A2769660 Neobythites jonathan n. sp. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 4A563E6F-DBA2-473A-8A2C-09D002561396 Figures 3 , 5 , Tables 1 , 4 TABLE 4. Meristic, morphometric, quantitative colour, and otolith characters in the individual types of Neobythites jonathan n. sp. and N. zora n. sp. and the two other species of the longiventralis group.

N. jonathan n. sp.		N. zora n. sp.	N. longiventralis			N. longipes
HT	PT	PT	Min	Mean	Max	n	Min	Mean	Max	n
SL (in mm)	119	122	132	108	132.8	148	6	90	212.3	301	23
Meristic characters
Dorsal-fin rays	91	92	91	90	91.7	94	6	96	100.5	103	23
Caudal-fin rays	8	8	0	8	8.0	8	6	8	8.0	8	22
Anal-fin rays	76	72	75	73	75.0	76	6	79	82.4	87	23
Pectoral-fin rays	28	29	27	25	25.8	27	6	27	28.5	30	17
Precaudal vertebrae	13	13	13	13	13.0	13	6	13	13.9	14	23
Total vertebrae	53	53	53	53	54.3	55	6	57	58.3	60	23
Pseudobranchial filaments	5	5	5	4	5.0	6	6	5	7.2	10	19
Dorsal-fin origin above vertebra nr.	6	6	5	5	5.0	5	6	5	5.0	6	22
Anal-fin origin below dorsal fin ray nr.	21	22	20	20	20.7	22	6	19	21.1	22	23
Anal-fin origin below vertebra nr.	16	16	15	15	15.3	16	6	15	16.0	17	23
Developed gill rakers	10	10	10	10	11.2	12	6	8	8.9	10	22
Total gillrakers	18	17	20	18	18.6	21	5	17	18.6	20	8
Morphometric characters
in % SL
Head length	24	24	23	22	23.3	24	6	22	23.5	25	23
Body depth at anal-fin origin	17	17	17	15	17.1	18	6	14	15.4	17	22
Upper-jaw length	13	12	11	11	12.0	12	6	12	12.5	13	23
Orbit length	5.2	5.1	5.5	4.7	4.9	5.1	6	3.9	4.4	5.0	23
Preanal distance	45	43	43	42	44.9	47	6	41	43.7	49	22
Predorsal distance	27	26	27	26	26.5	27	6	23	25.4	28	23
Pelvic-fin to anal-fin origin distance	26	24	23	24	24.9	26	6	23	26.1	30	23
Pelvic-fin length	32	29	34	32	33.2	34	4	28	36.5	54	23
Gill-filament length	1.8	1.7	1.3	1.3	1.7	1.9	6	1.3	1.8	2.7	22
Postorbital distance	14	15	13	13	13.8	15	6	13	13.7	16	22
in % HL
Upper-jaw length	55	51	49	49	51.1	54	7	48	53.0	57	23
Orbit length	22	21	24	20	21.6	24	7	17	18.9	22	23
Gill-filament length	7.8	7.1	5.7	5.3	6.9	8.3	7	5.7	7.6	11	22
Postorbital distance	59	60	58	57	59.0	61	7	54	58.4	61	22
Central ocellus characters
Snout tip to ocellus spot distance % SL	46	45	46	46	47.3	50	6	42	48.1	53	23
Dorsal-fin rays covered by spot	12	11	12	7	8.0	9	6	9	10.4	13	21
First dorsal fin ray in spot	20	21	21	24	24.3	25	6	21	25.0	28	21
Central-most ray in spot	25	26	27	28	28.2	29	6	27	30.1	33	21
Vertical-scale rows covered by spot	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	6	0	0.0	0	21
Otolith characters
in % SL
Otolith length	5.4	5.4	5.9	5.4	5.5	5.7	3	4.8	5.6	6.2	5
Otolith height	2.9	3.4	2.4	2.8	3.0	3.3	3	2.1	2.6	2.9	5
Sulcus length	4.6	4.8	4.8	4.3	4.4	4.6	3	4.3	4.5	4.9	5
Ostium length	3.2	3.2	3.5	2.5	2.8	3.1	3	2.7	3.0	3.4	5
Ostium height	0.71	0.83	0.79	0.64	0.75	0.82	3	0.54	0.61	0.73	5
in % sulcus length
Ostium length	70	67	73	59	64.0	68	3	62	65.5	71	5
Ostium height	15	17	16	15	17.0	19	3	12	13.5	15	5
in % ostium length
Ostium height	22	26	23	25	26.5	28	3	20	20.5	21	5

Holotype . MNHN 2002-3883, 119 mm SL, Solomon Sea, 9°31′S , 160°35′E , Salomon 1 cruise, R / V Alis , st. CP1802, 245– 269 m , 2 Oct. 2001 . Paratype . MNHN 2023-0262 , 122 mm , same collecting data as HT . Fresh colour photo ( Fig. 5B ). One adult specimen (sample not retained, size not known) photographed shortly after being caught, Solomon Sea, 9°47′S , 160°53′E , Salomonboa cruise, st. CP 2854, beam trawl, 261–278 m depth, 25 Sep 2007 (see also Richer de Forges 2007 ). Diagnosis. Hind margin of preopercle with two small but distinct spines; dorsal-fin rays 91–92; anal-fin rays 72–76; pectoral-fin rays 28–29; precaudal vertebrae 13; total vertebrae 53; pseudobranchial filaments 5; long rakers on anterior gill arch 10; head length 24% SL; pelvic-fin length 29–32% SL, fins extending beyond anus; orbit length 5.1–5.2% SL and 21–22% HL; longest gill filament 1.7–1.8% SL and 7.1–7.8% HL; dorsal fin with central ocellus, spot distance 45–46% SL and spot covers 11–12 dorsal-fin rays, placed just behind line through anus; ocellus spot black in fresh and preserved status, not extending ventrally onto body; when fresh, four pale brown vertical bars from dorsal fin down to body or anal fin; no bars in preserved specimens; otolith length 5.4% SL, sulcus length 4.6–4.8% SL, and ostium height 15–17% sulcus length and 22–26% ostium length. Description. The principal meristic and morphometric characters are shown in Table 4 . Morphological and preserved colour description based on HT, if not indicated otherwise. Fish elongate with indistinct lateral line; body and head covered by deciduous cycloid scales; origin of dorsal-fin above anterior third of pectoral fin; origin of anal fin slightly in front of midpoint of fish; snout slightly blunt, equal in length to diameter of eye window; two small but distinct spines on hind margin of preopercle; opercular spine pointed; anterior gill arch on both sides with 5 short and 2 long rakers on upper branch, one long raker at angle, and 7 long and 5 short rakers on lower branch; longest filaments on anterior gill arch 7.8% HL; longest gill raker on anterior gill arch 12% HL. Sagittal otolith ( Fig. 3C ). Otolith oval, tapering in posterior half, its depth 1.8 times in its length; sulcus 1.2 times in otolith length; ostium 1.4 times in sulcus length; ostium depth 6.5 times in sulcus length and 4.6 times in ostium length. Dentition. Premaxillaries, palatines, and dentaries with many pointed, close-set teeth in irregular rows; vomer boomerang-shaped with many small teeth; two median basibranchial tooth patches, anterior one long and narrow and posterior one small and rounded. Axial skeleton . Characters from both HT and PT; precaudal vertebrae 13, all with pointed tips; anterior neural spine half the length of second spine; spines on vertebrae 2–8 depressed; parapophyses on vertebrae 8–13, pleural ribs on vertebrae 2–3 to 13, and epipleural ribs not observed; bases of vertebrae 3–4 to 11–12 enlarged. Colour. Fresh fish ( Fig. 5B ). Head and body with pale-beige background colour, belly pale silvery-gray; dorsal half of head and body brown marbled, four irregularly shaped, vertical brown bars reaching from below dorsal fin to lower body half, posterior two bars ending at anal fin; a black central ocellus, spot not extending onto body below dorsal fin; ocellus ring only faintly visible along ventral side of ocellus spot due to tightly folded dorsal fin, dorsal fin behind ocellus partly dark-brown pigmented, connecting in part to posterior two vertical bars; anal fin hyaline apart from brown pigmentation areas connected to two posterior bars and along posterior margin of fin; pelvic fins hyaline. Preserved fish ( Fig. 5A ). Body and head mostly pale brown, dorsal third of head and body with brownish lines or stripes of various length, one incomplete stripe along lateral line; abdomen anteriorly whitish, mingled with dark-gray patches which widen posteriorly; distinct central ocellus placed just behind vertical line through anus, dark-brown ocellus spot more than twice orbit length, covering 11 dorsal-fin rays and contrasting pale-whitish ring surrounding ocellus spot entirely, spot not extending onto body below dorsal fin; dorsal fin anterior and posterior of spot with weak pale gray pigmentation, becoming lighter posteriorly; anal, pelvic and caudal fin hyaline. Etymology. The new species name “ jonathan ” is used as a noun in apposition and acknowledges Mr. Jonathan Pfliger, MNHN fish collection manager, for his invaluable assistance in our fish taxonomy research. Distribution and size . W Pacific, Solomon Sea, at 245–269 m depth. At least up to 122 mm SL.