HATA and MOTOMURA: First Records of Pristipomoides flavipinnis from Tokara and Amami

103

First Specimen-based Records of Pristipomoides flavipinnis(Perciformes: Lutjanidae) from the Tokara and Amami
Islands, Japan
HATA Harutaka1* and MOTOMURA Hiroyuki2

1: Graduate School of Fisheries, Kagoshima University, 4-50-20 Shimoarata,
Kagoshima 890-0056, Japan
2: The Kagoshima University Museum, 1-21-30 Korimoto, Kagoshima 890-0065,
Japan*Corresponding author
E-mail: k2795502@kadai.jp

Abstract
Four specimens (290.0-363.0 mm standard length) of Pristipomoides flavipinnis Shinohara, 1963,previously recorded in Japanese waters only from the southern Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa Islands andsouthward) and Ogasawara Islands, were collected from the northern Ryukyu Islands (Tokara and Amamiislands), thereby representing a ca. 270 km northward distributional range extension for the species, theTokara Islands specimens being the northernmost record. The four specimens are described in detail.
Key words: distribution, fish fauna, morphology, new record, snappers, taxonomy

Introduction
The lutjanid fish genus Pristipomoides Bleeker, 1852 is characterized by thedorsal fin with 10 spines and 11 soft rays, flattened interorbital space, produced
dorsal and anal fin posteriormost ray, groove absent on snout, roof of mouth withvilliform teeth on vomer and palatines, pectoral fin much longer than snout, dorsal fin
not deeply notched, and dorsal and anal fins without scales (ALLEN 1985, ANDERSON
and ALLEN 2001). It is currently represented in Japanese waters by eight species,
viz., P. argyrogrammicus (Valenciennes, 1832), P. auricilla (Jordan, Evermann andTanaka, 1927), P. filamentosus (Valenciennes, 1830), P. flavipinnis Shinohara, 1963,P. multidens (Day, 1871), P. sieboldii (Bleeker, 1854), P. typus Bleeker, 1852, andReceived: 27 November, 2015
Accepted: 21 January, 2016

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South Pacific Studies Vol.36, No.2, 2016

P. zonatus (Valenciennes, 1830) (S HIMADA 2013). Pristipomoides flavipinnis has
previously been recorded from the Ogasawara Islands and southern Ryukyu Islands(Okinawa Islands and southward) (SHIMADA 2013).
Four new specimens recently collected from the Tokara and Amami islands
represent the first confirmed records of the species from those localities and aredescribed herein.

Materials and Methods
Methods for counts and proportional measurements, shown in Table 1, followed
S HINOHARA (1963). Standard and head lengths are abbreviated as SL and HL,respectively. All measurements, except for SL which was measured to the nearest 1mm, were made with digital calipers to the nearest 0.1 mm. Curatorial procedures for
newly collected specimens followed MOTOMURA and ISHIKAWA (2013). Kagoshima
University Museum, Kagoshima is abbreviated as KAUM.

Results and Discussion
Pristipomoides flavipinnis Shinohara, 1963
Standard Japanese name: Kimme-himedaiFigs. 1-2; Table 1
Material examined. 4 specimens (290.0-363.0 mm SL) from the Ryukyu Islands,
Japan - TOKARA ISLANDS: KAUM─I. 45510, 363.0 mm SL, off Tokara Islands,long line (purchased at Kagoshima City Central Fish Market), 12 Mar. 2012, M.
MATSUNUMA; KAUM─I. 77538, 290.0 mm SL, KAUM─I. 77539, 326.0 mm SL, off
Kodakara-jima island, about 100 m depth, line fishing (purchased at Kagoshima City
Central Fish Market), 7 Aug. 2012, H. HATA. AMAMI ISLANDS: KAUM─I. 55853,342.0 mm SL, off Amami-Oshima island, line fishing (purchased at Kagoshima City
Central Fish Market), 30 July 2012, M. MEGURO and Y. SAKURAI.
Description. Body oblong, rather compressed, deepest between origins of 2nd
and 5th dorsal-fin spines. Dorsal profile of body convex from snout tip to caudalfin base. Ventral profile of head and body convex from lower-jaw tip to caudal-finbase. Snout rounded. Mouth terminal, large, posterior tip of maxilla extending beyond
vertical line through anterior margin of eye. Eye and iris elliptical. Interorbital space
flat, scaleless. Nostrils paired, positioned close together, anterior to orbit. Anterior
nostril round with dermal flap. Posterior nostril triangular. Uppermost point of pectoralfin insertion anterior to vertical line through posteriormost point of opercle. Lowermost
point of pectoral-fin insertion on vertical line through posteriormost point of opercle.
Posterior tip of pectoral fin pointed, reaching to anus. Origin of pelvic fin locatedslightly anterior to origin dorsal fin. Posterior end of pelvic-fin base just below base

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105

of 3rd dorsal-fin spine. Posterior end of depressed pelvic fin reaching to vertical line
through midpoint between origins of 10th dorsal-fin spine and 1st dorsal-fin soft ray,not reaching to anus. Dorsal-fin contour moderately notched, origin slightly posterior
to pelvic-fin origin, insertion just above posterior end of anal-fin base, 5th dorsal-fin
spine longest. Fin membrane between spinous and soft-rayed portions of dorsal fin not
deeply notched. Last rays of dorsal and anal fins produced. Anal-fin origin just below
bases of 1st to 3rd dorsal-fin rays, 3rd anal-fin spine longest. Caudal fin forked. Anus
just anterior to anal-fin origin, posterior to midpoint of body. Scales ctenoid. All fins,jaws, snout, pectoral-fin axillary region and posterior part of preopercle without scales.
Posterior edge of preopercle serrated. Upper jaw with single outer row of conical teeth
and inner band of fine teeth. Triangular patch of villiform teeth on vomer, fairly broadband of villiform teeth on palatines. Lower jaw with single row of conical teeth. Teeth
near anterior part of lower jaw greatly enlarged. Tongue edentate. Gill rakers long,slender. Pseudobranchial filaments present.
Color when fresh (Figs. 1-2): Head and body pink laterally, whitish-silver
ventrally. Poorly-defined yellowish blotches dorsally on body. Dorsal-fin membrane
whitish to yellowish with transparent blotches on posterior portion of dorsal fin;blotches forming 2-3 bands. Pectoral fin semi-transparent, yellowish centrally. Pelvic
fin whitish to pinkish. Anal fin semi-transparent, a pearl-yellow band centrally. Caudal
fin reddish with yellow margin. Pupil bluish-black, iris bright yellow. Dorsal surface ofhead with yellow vermicular markings (Fig. 2B).
Color in alcohol: Body dark pink dorsally, elsewhere pale yellow.
Remarks. The four specimens were identified as P. flavipinnis on the basis of thefollowing combination of characters, which closely match the diagnostic features of
P. flavipinnis given by SHINOHARA (1963, 1966), ALLEN (1985), ANDERSON and ALLEN(2001) and SHIMADA (2013): pored lateral-line scales 60-61; 15 lower gill rakers;

Fig. 1. Fresh specimen of(KAUM I. 55853, 342.0 mm SL, Amami-Oshimaisland, Amami Islands, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan).

106South Pacific Studies Vol.36, No.2, 2016

Fig. 2. (A) Lateral view of body and (B) dorsal view of head of fresh specimen of Pristipomoides
flavipinnis (KAUM I. 77539, 326.0 mm SL, Kodakara-jima island, Tokara Islands, Kagoshima
Prefecture, Japan).

upper-jaw length 2.3-2.4 times in HL; interorbital space 4.5 times in HL; suborbital
width 6.4-6.8 times in HL; body depth 3.3-3.5 times in SL; teeth on anterior part oflower jaw greatly enlarged; no teeth on tongue; villiform teeth on vomer; body color
uniform without bars; dorsal surface of head with vermicular yellow markings; caudal
fin with yellow margin.
The genus Pristipomoides contains 11 valid species (ALLEN 1985). Although P.
flavipinnis is most similar to P. filamentosus in sharing a slender body (body depth
3.3-3.6 times in SL), similar counts of pored lateral-line scales and gill rakers, and a
uniform body color without bars (SHINOHARA 1963, 1966, ALLEN 1985, ANDERSON andHATA and MOTOMURA: First Records of Pristipomoides flavipinnis from Tokara and Amami107

ALLEN 2001, SHIMADA 2013), the former is characterized by a longer upper jaw (2.12.4 times in HL vs. 2.4-2.6 times in P. filamentosus), narrower interorbital space (4.54.7 times in HL vs. 3.7-4.2), broader suborbital width (6.2-6.8 times in HL vs. 7.6-9.0),
the dorsal surface of the head with vermicular yellow markings (vs. yellow reticulatedmarkings with blue spots; Fig. 3B) and the caudal fin with a yellow margin (vs. red;Fig. 3A; SHINOHARA 1963, 1966, ALLEN 1985, ANDERSON and ALLEN 2001, MIURA
2012, SHIMADA 2013).
Table 1. Counts and measurements, expressed as percentages of standard (SL) or head (HL) lengths, ofPristipomoides flavipinnis.
Tokara Islands Tokara Islands

Amami-Oshima
Tokara Islandsisland

KAUM–I. 77358

KAUM–I. 77359

KAUM–I. 55853

KAUM–I. 45510

290.0

326.0

342.0

363.0

Dorsal-fin spines

1010101010Dorsal-fin soft rays

111111

11

11

Anal-fin spines

333

3

3

Anal-fin soft rays

8888

8

Pectoral-fin rays

16151616

16

Pored lateral-line scales

60

6160

60

60Gill rakers

Standard length (mm)Counts

Modes7+157+15

7+15

7+15

7+15

Scale rows on preopercle

6666

6

Predorsal scale rows

1414

1414

14

Scale rows above lateral line

77777

Scale rows below lateral line

1414

14

14

Measurements (% SL)

14
Means

Body depth

28.2

29.6

30.3

29.7

29.4

Head length

32.1

33.3

33.0

33.1

32.9

Snout length

10.9

12.1

12.2

12.0

11.8

Eye diameter

8.4

8.7

8.8

8.7

8.7

Caudal-peduncle height

9.3

9.8

9.9

9.7

9.7

Pectoral-fin length

29.9

32.1

30.6

32.0

31.1

Pelvic-fin length

25.2

25.8

24.6

25.3

25.2

4th dorsal-fin spine length

13.9

13.3

14.8

12.7

13.7

Last dorsal-fin soft ray length

18.1

17.7

17.1

18.0

17.7

3rd anal-fin spine length

8.3

8.6

8.7

9.7

8.8

Last anal-fin soft ray length

15.2

16.0

14.7

16.5

15.6

Upper-jaw length

41.6

42.5

43.6

42.5

42.6

Interobital width

22.1

22.2

22.1

22.0

22.1

Suborbital width

15.0

14.8

15.7

14.7

15.0

Measurements (% HL)

Means108South Pacific Studies Vol.36, No.2, 2016

Fig. 3. (A) Lateral view of body and (B) dorsal view of head of fresh specimen of(KAUM I. 66886, 301.6 mm SL, Amami-Oshima island, Amami Islands, Kagoshima
Prefecture, Japan).

SHINOHARA (1963) described P. flavipinnis as a new species based on specimens
collected from Okinawa-jima island, proposing the Japanese name “Kimme-himedai”
for the species. Subsequently, AOKI (1984, 1989a, b) reported P. flavipinnis from theOgasawara Islands.
Although GUSHIKEN (1972) showed a color photograph of P. flavipinnis collectedfrom Okinawa Prefecture, it was re-identified here as P. multidens, due to having two

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109

blue stripes on the snout to cheek. Although FUJIYAMA (2004) reported P. flavipinnis
from Amami-Oshima island, also based on a photograph, re-examination of thephotograph revealed it to be P. filamentosus due to the red margin on the caudal fin.
Accordingly, the present specimens from the Tokara and Amami islands represent anorthward extension of the distributional range for the species, the Tokara specimens
representing the northernmost record.
Comparative material examined. Pristipomoides filamentosus, KAUM─I.
66886, 301.6 mm SL, off Amami-Oshima island, 21 Nov. 2014, long line (purchased atNaze Landing Port), K. KOEDA.

Acknowledgements
We are especially grateful to Y. SAKURAI (Okinawa Environmental Research Co.,
Ltd.) and T. TANAKA (Tanaka Suisan Ltd.) for collecting specimens. We also thank Y.
HARAGUCHI and other volunteers, and students of KAUM for their curatorial assistance.
We greatly appreciated G. HARDY (Ngunguru, New Zealand), who read the manuscript
and provided help with English. This study was supported in part by Grants-in-Aid for
Scientific Research (A: 26241027, B: 24370041 and C: 23580259 and 26450265) fromthe Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan (JSPS); the JSPS AsianCore Program, “Establishment of Research and Education Network on Coastal Marine
Science in Southeast Asia”; the JSPS International Training Program “Protect Diversityof Bioresources in the Tropical Area”; the “Coastal Area Capability Enhancement inSoutheast Asia Project” of the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto,
Japan; the “Biological Properties of Biodiversity Hotspots in Japan” project of theNational Museum of Nature and Science, Tsukuba, Japan; and the “Establishment ofResearch and Education Network on Biodiversity and Its Conservation in the SatsunanIslands” project of Kagoshima University adopted by the Ministry of Education,Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan.

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