The poorly known scorpionfish Parascorpaena aurita is redescribed on the basis of 96 specimens from the Indo-Pacific and compared in detail with a closely related species, P. picta. The two species can be distinguished from other congeners by lacking a suborbital spine below the eye and having usually 17 or 18 pectoral-fin rays. Examination of a large number of specimens of each species revealed that P. aurita differs from P. picta in a number of scale counts and morphometrics, and morphology of the suborbital and interorbital ridges, and occiput. Previously published photographs and/or specimen lists identified as P. picta included both species. Parascorpaena aurita is widely distributed in the IndoPacific, including East Asia (first records), whereas P. picta is restricted to Southeast Asia and Australia.
The Indo-Pacific scorpionfish Scotpaenodes albaiensis (Evermann and Seale, 1907), for which the Philippines was previously the northernmost record, is recorded from East Asia (Taiwan and Japan) for the first time on the basis of 16 specimens. Speeimens from Taiwan and Japan previously identified as S, minor (Smith, 1958) are shown to include the closely related species S. albaiensis as well, The East Asian specimens of S, agbaiensis are described, and comparisons of the two species are made on the basis of Indo-Paeific specimens,
Seven specimens (149.0-221.2 mm standard length) of Pristipomoides amoenus (Snyder, 1911), previously known only from Okinawa-jima and Ishigaki-jima islands, southern Ryukyu Islands, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, were collected from other regions of Japan (Amami-oshima island, Amami Islands, Kagoshima Prefecture), Taiwan (Dong-gang, Pingtung), the Philippines (Iloilo, Panay Island), and Fiji (Viti Levu Island), thereby representing the first records of the species from outside Okinawa Prefecture. The Amami-oshima and Fijian specimens also represent the northernmost and first Southern Hemisphere records, respectively, for the species. Comparison of these plus newly collected specimens from the southern Ryukyu Islands (herein described in detail) with the closely related species Pristipomoides argyrogrammicus (Valenciennes in Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1832) revealed the following hitherto unrecognized diagnostic color features of P. amoenus: a few small silvery-blue blotches present inside yellow saddles on dorsum; small silvery-blue blotches below trunk lateral line absent or indistinct; a distinct line (formed by small silvery-blue blotches) absent on lower caudal peduncle; a large silveryblue blotch present on upper opercle, extending anteriorly beyond preopercular margin; a line formed by small silvery-blue blotches on upper caudal peduncle ending at upper caudal-fin base; a pair of lines formed by small silvery-blue blotches along dorsal-fin base (dorsal view); a larger pair of elliptical silvery-blue blotches on occipital region (all silvery-blue blotches retained as dark-brown blotches after preservation). Pristipomoides argyrogrammicus is newly recorded from the Tokara Islands, northern Ryukyu Islands, Japan.
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