Opah

description

Description. Dorsal-fin rays I, 47 (I, 47 – 51); anal-fin rays 40 (40); pectoral-fin rays 23 (23 – 25); pelvic-fin rays 14 (14). Body laterally compressed and rounded, its greatest depth contained 1.8 (1.5 – 1.8) times in standard length; head length contained 2.7 (2.7 – 2.8) times in standard length; vertical eye diameter large, contained 6.3 (5.7 – 6.3) times in head length; jaws protractible and lacking teeth; upper jaw shorter than lower jaw; lower jaw protrudes slightly forward of upper jaw, the tip narrowing to a blunt point; throat and palate without teeth. Lateral line angled above gill opening, arching above pectoral fins, and extending along mid-height of body through center of caudal peduncle. Scales small, thin, and easily removed over entire body. Dorsal fin long, the length of its base 2.0 (1.7 – 2.0) times in standard length, and short, its height contained 4.3 (4.3 – 4.4) in standard length. Origin of pelvic fin below or posterior to middle of elongated portion of dorsal fin, its length contained 4.1 (3.9 – 4.1) times in SL. Coloration. In dead specimens (unpreserved) body silver-grey on the abdomen fading to metallic blue on the dorsal surface with well-spaced, ovo

A taxonomic review of Lampris guttatus (Brünnich 1788) (Lampridiformes; Lampridae) with descriptions of three new species

description

Zeus imperialis Shaw in Shaw and Nodder 1793, Plate 140 Type locality: Europe. No types known. Scomber gunneri Bloch and Schneider, 1801: 38. Type locality: Sea Norway. No types known. Lampris lauta Lowe 1838: 183. Type locality: off Madeira. Holotype missing. Lampris guttatus Lineage 1. Hyde, et al. 2014. Common Name: North Atlantic Opah Neotype. NRM 54834, 100.5 cm SL, Northeast Atlantic, landed in Denmark, September, 2006. Paraneotype. MOM POI- 0004791, female, 97 cm SL, 40.0 kg, Bormes-les-Mimosas, France, 43 ° 07 ’ 28 ” N, 6 ° 21 ’ 18 ” E, January 2004, COI Lineage 1 (Hyde et al. 2014) GenBank accession # JF 931882.

A taxonomic review of Lampris guttatus (Brünnich 1788) (Lampridiformes; Lampridae) with descriptions of three new species

diagnosis

Diagnosis. A species of Lampris distinguished from other members of the genus by the following combination of characters: Dorsal-fin rays I, 47; anal-fin rays 40; pectoral-fin rays 23; pelvic-fin rays 14; origin of pelvic fin below shortened portion of dorsal-fin and well behind posteriormost elongated dorsal-fin ray; dorsal fin short, its height contained 4.5 times in standard length; maximum body depth about 1.8 times in standard length; body steel grey with well-spaced, ovoid white spots of two distinct sizes with larger spots concentrated along mid-line of body; all spots concentrated posterior to operculum and largely absent from head, operculum, and chest.

A taxonomic review of Lampris guttatus (Brünnich 1788) (Lampridiformes; Lampridae) with descriptions of three new species

discussion

Remarks. No type material is known for Lampris guttatus (Brünnich 1788) (Eschmeyer et al., 2018), and there is no mention of a type specimen being deposited in any collection in the original description (a practice not uncommon in works of that era). This has contributed to some confusion as to the correct species name to use for Opah, primarily because Lampris regius (Bonnaterre) was also published in 1788. Aside from the year, no date was given in either publication and thus both are given 31 December 1788 as a publication date as per Article 21.3.2 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (“ the code ”). Palmer and Oelschläger (1975) determined that L. guttatus (Brünnich 1788) has priority by virtue of Article 24.2.1 of the code in that the first reviewer (in this case Müller, 1806) used L. guttatus (Brünnich 1788). In the absence of a type specimen, and to stabilize the present usage of the name it seems prudent to designate a neotype for Lampris guttatus (Brünnich 1788). Brünnich’s description is based on a single specimen landed at Helsingør, Denmark, and taken from the North Sea. Hyde et al. (2014) examined DNA sequence data from 4 specimens from the Northeast At

A taxonomic review of Lampris guttatus (Brünnich 1788) (Lampridiformes; Lampridae) with descriptions of three new species