A new species of mullet (Teleostei: Mugilidae) from Venezuela, with a discussion on the taxonomy of Mugil gaimardianus

Abstract

The original description of Mugil gaimardianus has created various taxonomic problems in the past since the description is ambiguous and the type specimen is apparently lost. The name M. gaimardianus could not be reliably applied to any known species and was suppressed by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) (Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature, 51: 286–287, 1994). Nevertheless, karyological evidence has shown that there is a species of mullet in Venezuelan coastal waters that does not conform to the description of any other mullet from the Western Central Atlantic and has the feature of a red eye that was often used by earlier authors to define nominal M. gaimardianus. The purpose of this study was to make a morphological description of these unusual specimens, provide a morphological diagnosis from other species of Mugil present in the Caribbean and Western Central Atlantic and establish a valid name for the species.

Occurrence of a Colorful Prejuvenile Mountain Mullet (Agonostomus monticola) in Brackish Water of Montserrat, Lesser Antilles

“…recorded by measuring each preserved specimen with a pair of dividers following Harrison et al (2007). These current data were compared to previous morphometrics recorded for small mugilids (Anderson 1957) by physically drawing lines parallel to the axes on the published regression graphs to obtain the previous values.…”

Novel family- and genus-specific DNA markers in Mugilidae

“…(Harrison et al, 2007;Rossi et al, 1998a;Trewavas and Ingham, 1972). It is difficult to distinguish between the genera Mugil and Liza (Rossi et al, 1998a) by appearance and morphology, and the economic value of M. cehpalus is quite a bit higher than that of Liza affinis.…”

Marine and inland fishes of St. Croix, U. S. Virgin Islands: <br />an annotated checklist

“…Agonostomus monticola (Bancroft 1834)-Mountain Mullet (Gut Mullet), Fig Remarks: The precise Caribbean distribution of this recently described mullet (Harrison et al, 2007) is uncertain owing to its similarity to M. curema. These two species can be distinguished (characters of M. rubrioculus given first with those of M. curema in parentheses) as follows: in life, iris reddish-orange (absent or indistinct), base of pectoral fin with small dark spot on dorsal part of base (dark spot extending vertically down most of fin base), anal fin pale (fin dark); scales on flanks usually lack minute, overlying secondary scales (flanks usually with secondary scales).…”