Randallichthys filamentosus ( Fourmanoir, 1970 )

Randallichthys filamentosus ( Fourmanoir, 1970) View in CoL

English vernacular name: Randall’s snapper Fig. 3 B View Figure 3

Etelis filamentosus Fourmanoir, 1970. — Fourmanoir (1970): 28 (type locality New Caledonia). View in CoL

Etelis nudimaxillaris Yoshino et Araga, 1975. — Yoshino and Araga (1975): 236 (type locality southern Japan). View in CoL

Randallichthys filamentosus ( Fourmanoir, 1970). — Anderson et al. (1977): 89 (Hawaiian Islands and New Caledonia). — Yoshino (1984): 167 (southern Japan, Hawaiian Islands, Guam and New Caledonia). — Allen (1985): 156 (southern Japan, Hawaiian Islands and New Caledonia). — Anderson and Allen (2001): 2916 (western central Pacific). — Shimada (2002): 827 (southern Japan). — Randall et al. (2002): 158 (Society and Tuamotu islands). — Myers and Donaldson (2003): 626 ( Mariana Islands). — Randall et al. (2004): 16 ( Tonga). — Leis (2005): 58 ( Caroline Islands); Mundy (2005): 385 (Hawaiian Islands). — Randall et al. (2005): 123 ( Marshall Islands). — Randall (2007): 251 (Hawaiian Islands). — Newman (2009): 1514 (Scott Reef, northwestern Australia). View in CoL

Material examined.

LBRC-F 2425 , 175.0 mm SL, off Lembeh Island , Bitung, Indonesia, hook and line, more than 100 m depth (purchased at Girian Fish Market, Bitung, northern Sulawesi, T. Peristiwady, 20 December 2011) .

Description.

Dorsal fin with 10 spines (third longest) and 11 soft rays (fourth longest), penultimate ray simple, not filamentous; anal fin with 3 spines and 9 soft rays; pectoral fin with 16 rays; pelvic fin with 1 spine and 5 rays; lateral line scales complete, with 50 pores; scales above lateral line 8; scales below lateral line 13; gill rakers (not including rudiments) on upper limb of first gill arch 5, lower limb 11, total 16; head relatively long, its length 2.9 in SL; body depth about equal to HL; body width 2.2 in body depth; dorsal-fin base length almost half of SL, 2.1 in SL; pectoral fin short, its length 1.8 in HL, base covered with scales, tip reaching vertical line through base of seventh dorsal-fin spine; pelvic fin short, its length 1.5 in HL, posterior tip not reaching anus when depressed; caudal fin lunate, scaly, its length 1.1 in HL, lower lobe with some filamentous rays; body covered with ctenoid scales; snout, interorbital, maxillary and dorsal and anal fin bases scaleless; head blunt, with flat interorbital space; lateral surface of maxilla with longitudinal ridges; posterior end of maxilla level of anterior margin of orbit; premaxillae not protrusible; lower jaw protruding; horizontal level of snout tip approximately through mid-orbit.

Color when fresh.

Head and body rosy red ventrally, yellowish tinge dorsally; body with four indistinct blackish bands; all fins rosy reddish or yellowish, with outer edge of spinous dorsal and pelvic fins black (Fig. 3 B View Figure 3 ).

Remarks.

Characters of the presently reported specimen followed those of R. filamentosus given by Anderson et al. (1977), Yoshino (1984), Allen (1985), and Anderson and Allen (2001). The species can be easily distinguished from all other lutjanids by the following combination of characters: dorsal fin with 10 spines and 11 soft rays; maxilla and dorsal and anal-fin bases without scales; premaxillae not protrusible; lateral surface of maxilla with longitudinal ridges; vomer with teeth; pectoral-fin length less than HL ( Anderson and Allen 2001; this study).

Randallichthys filamentosus has previously been recorded across a broad range of oceanic islands in the western and central Pacific, including those of southern Japan and Hawaii and the Mariana, Society, Tuamotu, Tonga and Marshall Islands, as well as Scott Reef (northwestern Australia), in latitudes of 8–27 ° N and 16–21 ° S (Fig. 1 View Figure 1 ). Such a distribution has thus far supported Randall’s (1982) categorization of R. filamentosus as an anti-equatorial species. However, the presently reported specimen, collected off Lembeh Island (latitude 1.4 ° N), is the first record of R. filamentosus from equatorial Indonesian waters, prompting a reconsideration of Randall’s (1982) anti-equatorial classification.