Black-edged Sweeper

Pempheris mangula

Pempheris mangula vs. P. rhomboidea The second species claimed by Koeda et al. (2014) for the Red Sea is Pempheris mangula Cuvier, for which they mistakenly list P. rhomboidea Kossmann & Räuber, 1877, type locality Eritrea, as a junior synonym. One would not expect to find P. mangula in the Red Sea based on its habitat alone, a coast of the mud-bottom Bay of Bengal. Randall & Bineesh (2014) now clearly show that P. mangula, based on the neotype collected by Bineesh from the type locality of Visakhapatnam, is not a senior synonym of P. rhomboidea . It is separated by its high gill-raker count of 30–34, compared to 27–30 for P. mangula, larger eye (6.95–7.5 in SL vs. 7.3–8.4 in SL for P. mangula), longer pectoral fins (2.85–3.2 in SL vs. 3.5–3.65 for P. mangula), and shorter prepelvic length (2.5–2.6 in SL vs. 2.65–2.7 in SL for P. mangula). Randall & Bineesh (2014) described the neotype from Visakhapatnam prior to Koeda et al. (2014), and a recent specimen from the type locality is shown in Fig. 3. Furthermore, Koeda et al. (2014) mistakenly used DNA sequences from specimens from Oman and Mozambique to represent P. mangula, and thus found little genetic difference from Red Sea P

Rebuttal to Koeda et al. (2014) on the Red Sea fishes of the perciform genus Pempheris

description

Description. Body strongly compressed, body width 6.5 – 7.0 in SL; body very deep, body depth 2.0 – 2.4 in SL; head length 2.7 – 3.4 in SL; snout very short, rounded, snout length 3.9 – 4.8 in HL; interorbital very narrow, 3.2 – 3.7 in HL; dorsal outline weakly convex to dorsal fin base, extending somewhat linearly to caudal peduncle; ventral outline convex to anal fin base, extending somewhat linearly to caudal peduncle; chest usually keeled, but sometimes weakly or not at all. Mouth large and strongly oblique, upper jaw length 1.7 – 2.0 in HL; the maxilla extending to anterior pupil or slightly beyond, but reaching middle of pupil; maxilla broadly expanded posteriorly; lower jaw projecting beyond upper jaw; narrow band of villiform teeth in jaws. Scales ctenoid, thin, semicircular in shape, wider than long, and deciduous; concealed small scales under surface scales; scales of ventral area larger than those of dorsal area; almost all parts of head scaled, except for just anterior to orbit; about one-third of basal part of anal fin covered with small scales; scales above lateral line more deciduous; pored lateral-line scales adherent, running parallel to dorsal outline to middle of

A review of the genus Pempheri s (Perciformes, Pempheridae) of the Red Sea, with description of a new species

diagnosis

Diagnosis. Pored lateral-line scales 49 – 60; scale rows above lateral line 4 1 / 2 – 5 1 / 2; circumpeduncular scales 14 – 18, usually 16; no blackish spot on pectoral fin base; usually only the tip of dorsal fin blackish; huge eye, the diameter 13.0 – 15.3 % SL, 43.6 – 51.5 % HL; body very deep 44.6 – 49.1 % SL; usually irregular faint longitudinal light stripes on the body side.

A review of the genus Pempheri s (Perciformes, Pempheridae) of the Red Sea, with description of a new species

discussion

Remarks. Five Indian species, P. molucca and four species from the Red Sea, were collected from Southern India and / or Sri Lanka, but no specimens have been reported from the Visakhapatnam coast where Russell reported '' Mangula-kutti' '. Pempheris malabarica Cuvier in Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1831, described from Southern India, is considered to be a junior synonym of P. molucca in our taxonomical revision on whole genus (Koeda et al., unpublish data). Our analyses based on the illustration yields the following characters: high [large] body depth; dorsal-fin rays V, 10; anal-fin rays III, 39; pectoral-fin rays I, 17; pelvic-fin rays I, 5; caudal-fin rays 19; pored lateral-line scales 59; scale rows above lateral line 4 1 / 2 – 5 1 / 2; scale rows below lateral line 14. The shaded parts on each fin might indicate branched rays. The specimens here, listed above as P. mangula, do not exactly match the characters in Russell's illustration, but do match some of the significant characters from the illustration, in having 39 anal-fin soft rays (34 – 42), pored lateral-line scales 59 (49 – 60), and scale rows above lateral line 4 1 / 2 – 5 1 / 2 (4 1 / 2 – 5 1 / 2). Additionally, Russell (

A review of the genus Pempheri s (Perciformes, Pempheridae) of the Red Sea, with description of a new species