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Issue: Vol. 4418 No. 3: 8 May 2018
Type: Article
Published: 2018-05-08
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4418.3.6
Page range: 287–295
Abstract views: 96
PDF downloaded: 2

A new garden eel, Heteroconger fugax (Congridae: Heterocongrinae), from the northwestern Pacific Ocean

National Museum of Marine Biology & Aquarium, 2 Houwan Road, Checheng, Pingtung 94450, Taiwan
Amami Station, International Center for Island Studies, Kagoshima University, 2-1 Naze-yanagimachi, Amami, Kagoshima 894-0032, Japan
The Kagoshima University Museum, 1-21-30 Korimoto, Kagoshima 890-0065, Japan
Heteroconger tomberua taxonomy morphology distribution new species Pisces

Abstract

Heteroconger fugax sp. nov. (Congridae: Heterocongrinae) is described from a single specimen collected from Amami-oshima island, Japan. The new species is most similar to Heteroconger tomberua Castle & Randall 1999, known from Fiji and New Caledonia, in having a remarkably slender body with numerous small spots and a vertebral count close to 200. However, it can be distinguished from H. tomberua by the presence of a large distinct white blotch on the opercle; more numerous, dense spots over the entire head, including lips; ground color of body uniformly cream, without microscopic melanophores; numerous small conical cirri on the chin; and dorsal-fin origin located more posteriorly to appressed pectoral-fin tip. A survey of underwater photographs of Heteroconger on photographic database revealed H. fugax to be widely distributed in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, from the Ryukyu Archipelago to Borneo.

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