[Ichthyology • 2016] Pseudochromis yamasakii • A New Species of Dottyback Fish (Pseudochromidae: Pseudochrominae) from Japan

Pseudochromis yamasakii 

Gill & Senou, 2016 

KPM-NR 90532A, underwater photo of individual in 18 m, Kushimoto, Kii Peninsula, Honshu, Japan.

photo by K. Yamasaki.  DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4173.3.8  

Abstract

Gill (2004) recognised fifty-seven species in the Indo-Pacific genus Pseudochromis Rüppell (1835) but noted that the genus is undiagnosed cladistically and effectively serves as a catch-all for species that can’t be placed in other pseudochromine genera (sensu Gill 2013). Since publication of Gill’s revision, 13 additional species of Pseudochromis have been described, mostly based on recent collections from the highly diverse Coral Triangle area of the West Pacific (Gill & Allen 2004, 2011; Allen et al. 2008; Gill et al. 2009, 2012a,b; Gill & Williams 2011; Gill & Zajonz 2011; Allen & Erdmann 2012). We herein describe an additional new species, which is known on the basis of a single specimen from Kii Peninsula, Honshu, Japan, and from several photographs from the Kii Peninsula and Izu Islands, Japan.

Keywords: Pisces, Teleostei, Pseudochromidae, Pseudochrominae

Pseudochromis yamasakii, sp. nov.

English common name: Dottybelly dottyback

New standard Japanese name: Haraten-nisesuzume

Etymology. This species is named for Kimihiro Yamasaki, a professional diver and excellent underwater photographer. Mr Yamasaki collected the holotype and provided photographs of the new species.

Habitat and distribution. Pseudochromis yamasakii is known only from Kushimoto (type locality) and Minabe on the Kii Peninsula of Honshu, and from Hachijo-jima in the Izu Islands (KPM-NR 70230, KPM-NR 8893, KPM-NR 8897). It has been recorded from reefs in 18–45 m.

FIGURE 4. Pseudochromis yamasakii, KPM-NR 166546, underwater photo of individual in 18 m, Kushimoto, Kii Peninsula, Honshu, Japan.

photo by K. Yamasaki 

Gill, Anthony C. and Hiroshi Senou. 2016. Pseudochromis yamasakii, New Species of Dottyback Fish from Japan (Teleostei: Pseudochromidae: Pseudochrominae).
 Zootaxa. 4173(3): 296–300.  DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4173.3.8