Vol. 45 No. 1, 2006

Parapercis phenax from Japan and P. banoni from the Southeast Atlantic, New Species of Pinguipedid Fishes Previously Identified as P. roseoviridis

John E. Randall¹ and Takeshi Yamakawa²

¹Bishop Museum, 1525 Bernice St., Honolulu, HI 96817-2704, USA
²Faculty of Science, Kochi University, 2-5-1 Akebono-cho, Kochi, 780-8520, Japan

John E. Randall and Takeshi Yamakawa (2006) The pinguipedid fish Parapercis phenax, formerly identified as P. roseoviridis (Gilbert), is described as a new species from 42 specimens, 87.2-179.7 mm SL, taken by trawl in 322-600 m on the Kyushu-Palau Ridge. It differs from the endemic Hawaiian P. roseoviridis in having 60-64 lateral-line scales (vs. 54-57), 10-13 lower-limb gill rakers (vs. 8-10), and in larger size (largest roseoviridis, 159 mm SL). Parapercis banoni, trawled in 220-235 m on the Valdivia Bank in the southeastern Atlantic and first identified as P. roseoviridis by Bañón et al. (2000), is described from 4 specimens, 148-191.5 mm SL. It is closest to P. phenax, but differs in having a broader interorbital width (5.5-5.7% SL vs. 3.2-5.1% SL for phenax), shorter pelvic fins (17.0-17.6% SL vs. 18.3-23.1% SL for phenax), and no black pigment on the spinous portion of the dorsal fin. Parapercis maritzi Anderson (1992), described from 12 specimens, 131-167 mm SL, collected in 80- 200 m off Transkei and KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, represents a 4th species of the roseoviridis complex.

Key words: Fish taxonomy, Pinguipedidae, Parapercis, New species.

*Correspondence: E-mail: jackr@hawaii.rr.com