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| Hyporthodus griseofasciatus Moore, Wakefield, DiBattista & Newman, 2022. |
Abstract
A new species of deep-water epinephelid fish is described from the west coast of Australia based on 14 specimens, 99–595 mm standard length. Hyporthodus griseofasciatus sp. nov. is endemic to Western Australia from Barrow Island to Two Peoples Bay in depths of 76–470 m. It has a series of eight grey bands alternating with eight brown bands along the body and the soft dorsal, soft anal and caudal fin margins are pale cream to white. It is distinguished from its nearest congener, H. ergastularius, by the presence of a star-like pattern of radiating lines on the head versus an overall brownish colour in the latter as well as significant differences in the quantitative analyses of 25 morphological characters. The two species have allopatric distributions on either side of the Australian continent. H. griseofasciatus is distinguished from H. octofasciatus by several grey bands being distinctly narrower than other grey bands (vs. all grey bands subequal in the latter) and the presence of broad white margins on the dorsal, caudal and anal fins (vs. narrow or absent in the latter). Some scale counts appear to also differ. Analyses of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 sequences revealed reciprocally monophyletic clades with fixed differences and genetic distances typical of recently diverged species of fishes.
Keywords: barcod, eightbar, Epinephelus, ergastularius, greyband, octofasciatus, septemfasciatus
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| Hyporthodus griseofasciatus sp. nov. Holotype WAM P.34486-001. 321 mm SL. Two Peoples Bay canyon, WA, Australia, fresh. |
Hyporthodus griseofasciatus new species
New standard common name: Greybanded Grouper.
DIAGNOSIS: A species of Hyporthodus with dorsal-fin rays XI, 14; anal-fin rays III, 9; pectoral-fin rays 18–19; caudal-fin rounded (smaller specimens) to truncate (larger specimens); lateral-scale series 101–126; gill rakers 8–9+14–15 = 23–24; transverse scale rows below lateral line 24–36; circum-peduncular scales 39–51; H. griseofasciatus can be distinguished from H. octofasciatus by a body with seven broad equal-width dark-brown bands alternating with grey bands (may be faint) of unequal widths (equal widths in the latter), and from H. ergastularius by a head with five to eight dark-brown bands with grey interspaces appearing as a star radiating from the eye (overall brown in the latter); caudal, dorsal and anal fins often with a defined white margin.
ETYMOLOGY: The specific name griseofasciatus is derived from the Latin griseo (grey) and fasciata (band). Adjective, masculine. This reflects the unique vernacular name most frequently applied to this species by anglers in Western Australia, ‘greyband’, in reference to the grey colour of the pale bands. Although this descriptor is not diagnostic for the new species (most Hyporthodus species have grey bands), we have followed the naming guidelines of Yearsley et al. (2006), which clearly states that ‘historical names in regular use or widely accepted names’ and ‘a regional name where the species is most commonly encountered/caught’ have priority. The presence of multiple grey bands dictates the use of ‘greybanded’ rather than ‘greyband’ (Yearsley et al., 2006). The preference for ‘grouper’ rather than ‘cod’ as the common group name for Epinephelidae is consistent with Rees et al. (2018) and follows the group name guidelines of Yearsley et al. (2006).
Glenn I. Moore, Corey B. Wakefield, Joseph D. DiBattista and Stephen J. Newman. 2022. Hyporthodus griseofasciatus (Perciformes: Epinephelidae), A New Species of Deep-water Grouper from the west coast of Australia. Journal of Fish Biology. DOI: 10.1111/jfb.15231
