Epigonus cavaticus (Teleostei: Perciformes), a new epigonid fish from Palau, western Central Pacific

Abstract

A new epigonid fi sh, Epigonus cavaticus, is described on the basis of eight specimens (59.2-69.5 in standard length: SL) collected from a cave at depth 20 m, southern fringing reef of Ngemelis Island, Palau. The species differs from other congeners by having minute teeth on both jaws, no opercular spine, pyloric caeca 7-8, gill rakers 25-27, total pored lateral line scales 48-50, dorsal fi n rays VII-I, 10-11 (mode VII-I, 10), pectoral fi n rays 16, vertebrae 10 + 15, body depth 21.4-25.0% SL, pectoral fi n length 22.7-24.6% SL, eye diameter 44.4-47.5% head length: HL, upper jaw length 40.2-42.5% HL. Four paratypes (63.7-66.8 mm SL) of the new species are female with mature gonads, it is the smallest in size at sexual maturity among the congeners.

Epigonus draco, a New Species of Deepwater Cardinalfish (Perciformes: Epigonidae) from the Western Pacific

“…In addition to the above-mentioned E. atherinoides and E. pectinifer of the E. constanciae group, E. cavaticus Ida, Okamoto and Sakaue 2007, E. denticulatus Dieuzeide 1950, and E. lifouensis Okamoto and Motomura 2013 are distributed in the Western Pacific. These three species belong to the E. pandionis group defined by Okamoto and Motomura (2013) and can be easily distinguished from E. draco in lacking an opercular spine.…”

“…Since the 1990s, 12 species of the deepwater cardinalfish genus Epigonus Rafinesque, 1810 have been described from the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans by many ichthyologists (e.g., McCosker and Long 1997;Ida et al 2007;Krupp et al 2009;Okamoto and Motomura 2013;Parin et al 2012). Of these, Okamoto et al (2012) and Okamoto and Aungtonya (2013) considered Epigonus merleni McCosker and Long, 1997 and Epigonus trunovi Parin and Prokofiev in Parin et al, 2012 to be junior synonyms of other congeners.…”

Validity of <i>Epigonus megalops</i> (Perciformes: Epigonidae), Redescription of <i>E. atherinoides</i>, and First Record of <i>E. draco</i> from the Central South Pacific

“…Epigonus megalops can be distinguished from the remaining 14 species in the group in having fewer gill rakers (22-23 vs. 28-35 in the others; see Okamoto 2015: table 3). The following species have also been recorded from the Western Pacific (Brauer 1906;Abramov 1992; Okamoto and Motomura 2013; Okamoto and Nakayama 2016) but differ from E. megalops in lacking a pungent opercular spine: E. cavaticus Ida, Okamoto, and Sakaue, 2007, E. denticulatus Dieuzeide, 1950, and E. lifouensis Okamoto and Motomura, 2013, all of the "E. pandionis group", and E. macrops (Brauer, 1906) of the "E. telescopus group".…”

Two new species of the genus Epigonus (Perciformes: Epigonidae) from the Atlantic and Indian Oceans

“…After this publication, different authors described three new species more from the Indo Pacific (McCosker and Long, 1997;Ida et al, 2007;Krupp et al, 2009). Thus, the number of known species of Epigonus attained 28.…”