Abstract
The parrotfish Sparisoma choati is described from the tropical eastern Atlantic Ocean. It is genetically unique and alsodiffers from its congeners by coloration as follows: initial phase individuals and females greyish brown to greyish red,with chin and belly paler and reddish brown scales irregularly distributed along flanks resulting in a general mottled ap-pearance; terminal phase individuals with brownish red head and upper half of anterior two-thirds of body, ventral portionof central third of body bright yellow-green, posterior third of body dark greenish gray and dark spot on upper fifth ofpectoral fin base. The new species is found in rocky reefs along the coast and oceanic islands off West Africa, from Cape Verde and Senegal south to the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe and Angola.References
Afonso, P., Porteiro, F.M., Santos, R.S., Barreiros, J.P., Worms, J. & Wirtz, P. (1999) Coastal Marine Fishes of São Tomé Island (Gulf of Guinea). Arquipélago: Boletim da Universidade dos Açores, 17A, 65–92.
Bernardi, G., Robertson, R., Clifton, K. & Azzuro, E. (2000) Molecular systematics, zoography, and evolutionary ecology of the Atlantic Parrotfish genus Sparisoma. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evololution, 15, 292–300.
Brito, A., Herrera, R., Falcón, J. M., García-Charton, J. A., Barquín, J. & Pérez-Ruzafa, A. (1999) Contribución al conocimiento de la ictiofauna de las islas de Cabo Verde. Revista de la Academia Canaria de Ciencias, 11 (3-4), 27–41.
Capello, F.B. (1872) Primeira lista dos peixes da Ilha da Madeira, Açores e das possessõoes portuguezas d’Africa, que existem no museu de Lisboa. Jornal de Sciencias Mathematicas, Physicas e Naturaes, 1ª serie, 13, 83–88.
Fowler, H.W. (1936) The marine fishes of West Africa, based on the collection of the American Museum Congo Expedition, 1909-1915. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 70, 1–1493.
Gasparini, J.L., Joyeux, J.-C. & Floeter, S.R. (2003) Sparisoma tuiupiranga, a new species of parrotfish (Perciformes: Labroidei: Scaridae) from Brazil, with comments on the evolution of the genus. Zootaxa, 384, 1–14.
Moura, R.L., Figueiredo, J.L. & Sazima, I. (2001) A new parrotfish (Scaridae) from Brazil and revalidation of Sparisoma amplum (Ranzani 1842), Sparisoma frondosum (Agassiz 1831), Sparisoma axillare (Steindachner 1878) and Scarus trispinosus Valenciennes 1840. Bulletin of Marine Science, 68, 505–524.
Osório, B. (1890) Estudos ichthyologicos acerca da fauna de dominios portugueses na Africa. Jornal de Sciencias Mathematicas, Physicas e Naturaes, 2ª serie, 9, 277–282.
Parenti, P. & Randall, J.E. (2000) An annotated checklist of the species of the labroid fish families Labridae and Scaridae. Ichthyological Bulletin of the J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology, 68, 1–97.
Pinheiro, H.T., Gasparini, J.L. & Sazima, I. (2010) Sparisoma rocha, a new species of parrotfish (Actinopterygii: Labridae) from Trindade Island, South-western Atlantic. Zootaxa, 2493, 59–65.
Randall, J.E. (1981) Scaridae. In: Fisher, W. & Bianchi, G. (Eds) FAO Species Identification Sheets for Fishery Purposes - Eastern Central Atlantic, Volume III. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, pp. 1–10.
Robertson, D.R., Karg, F., Moura, R.L., Victor, B.C. & Bernardi, G. (2006) Mechanisms of speciation and faunal enrichment in Atlantic parrotfishes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 40, 795–807.
Sanches, J.G. (1991) Catálogo dos principais peixes marinhos da República da Guiné-Bissau. Instituto Nacional de Investigação das Pescas, Lisboa, 469p.
Westneat, M.W., Satapoomin, U. & Randall, J.E. (2007) Scarus maculipinna, a new species of parrotfish (Perciformes, Scaridae) from the eastern Indian Ocean. Zootaxa, 1628, 59–68.
Wirtz, P., Ferreira, C.E.L., Floeter, S.R., Fricke, R., Gasparini, J.L., Iwamoto, T., Rocha, L.A., Sampaio, C.L. and Shcliewen, U.K. (2007) Coastal Fishes of São Tomé and Príncipe islands, Gulf of Guinea (Eastern Atlantic Ocean)—an update. Zootaxa, 1523, 1–48.