Reinstatement of Minous inermis andM. trachycephalus (Synanceiidae) to thechecklist of Red Sea fishes, with comments
on M. monodactylus
Mizuki Matsunuma, Sergey
V. Bogorodsky, Ahmad O. Mal, Yukino
Ando & Hiroyuki Motomura
Marine Biodiversity
ISSN 1867-1616
Mar Biodiv
DOI 10.1007/s12526-017-0716-1

1 23

Your article is protected by copyright and allrights are held exclusively by Senckenberg
Gesellschaft für Naturforschung and SpringerVerlag Berlin Heidelberg. This e-offprint isfor personal use only and shall not be selfarchived in electronic repositories. If you wish
to self-archive your article, please use theaccepted manuscript version for posting on
your own website. You may further deposit
the accepted manuscript version in any
repository, provided it is only made publicly
available 12 months after official publicationor later and provided acknowledgement isgiven to the original source of publication
and a link is inserted to the published article
on Springer's website. The link must be
accompanied by the following text: "The final
publication is available at link.springer.com”.

1 23

Author's personal copy
Mar Biodiv
DOI 10.1007/s12526-017-0716-1

RED SEA BIODIVERSITY

Reinstatement of Minous inermis and M. trachycephalus(Synanceiidae) to the checklist of Red Sea fishes, with comments
on M. monodactylus
Mizuki Matsunuma 1 & Sergey V. Bogorodsky 2,3 & Ahmad O. Mal 4 & Yukino Ando 5 &Hiroyuki Motomura 5

Received: 3 March 2017 / Revised: 6 April 2017 / Accepted: 18 April 2017
# Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2017

Abstract Records of the stingfish genus Minous (family
Synanceiidae) from the Red Sea are reviewed. Although excluded from the recent checklist of fishes from that region, bothMinous inermis Alcock 1889 and Minous trachycephalus(Bleeker 1855) are reported from the Red Sea, on the basis of
two and seven voucher specimens, respectively. On the other
hand, the record of Minous monodactylus (Bloch andSchneider 1801) from the Red Sea is considered erroneous, theoriginal source of this record having been based on a misidentification of Minous coccineus Alcock 1890. Accordingly, only
M. coccineus, M. inermis and M. trachycephalus are confirmed
from Red Sea waters.

Keywords Synanceiidae . Minous coccineus . Minous
inermis . Minous monodactylus . Minous trachycephalus .
Distribution

Introduction
The genus Minous Cuvier in Cuvier and Valenciennes 1829
(family Synanceiidae) includes 12 valid species of small,bottom-dwelling stingfishes from the Indo-Pacific region(Eschmeyer et al. 1979; Amaoka and Kanayama 1981;
Mandrytsa 1990, 1993). However, the most recent checklist
of Red Sea fishes (Golani and Bogorodsky 2010) included
only two species of Minous, viz., Minous coccineus Alcock
1890 and Minous monodactylus (Bloch and Schneider 1801),
records of Minous inermis Alcock 1889 and Minous
trachycephalus (Bleeker 1855), previously recognized by
Goren and Dor (1994), having been excluded. However, two
specimens of M. inermis and seven of M. trachycephalus, allfrom the Red Sea, have been located in museum collections or
recently collected. These examples represent reliable recordsof both species from the Red Sea. The validity of Red Sea
records of M. monodactylus is reviewed.

Materials and methods
Communicated by M. Sonnewald* Mizuki Matsunuma
k1139853@kadai.jp

1

Laboratory of Marine Biology, Faculty of Science, Kochi University,
2-5-1 Akebono, Kochi 780-8520, Japan

2

Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum
Frankfurt, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt a. M, Germany

3

Station of Naturalists, Omsk, Russia

4

Marine Biology Department, Faculty of Marine Sciences, King
Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia

5

The Kagoshima University Museum, 1-21-30 Korimoto,Kagoshima 890-0065, Japan

Methods of counts and measurements generally followed
Eschmeyer et al. (1979), except for the following: body
depth—depth taken at pelvic-fin origin; body width—maximum width at pectoral-fin base; anterior and posterior lacrimal
spine length—distance between anterior margin of lacrimal andextreme tip of respective spine. Species identification followed
Eschmeyer et al. (1979); Amaoka and Kanayama (1981) and
Mandrytsa (1990, 1993). Standard length is expressed as SL.
Specimens examined in this study are deposited at the
Zoological Museum, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJ),
Jerusalem; King Abdulaziz University Marine Museum(KAUMM), Jeddah; and Senckenberg Research Institute andNatural History Museum (SMF), Frankfurt.

Author's personal copy
Mar Biodiv

The following comparative specimens of Minous coccineus
were examined (42 specimens): Eritrea: HUJ 2452, 73.6 mm
SL, Feb. to Apr. 1957; HUJ 2471, two specimens, 73.9–76.7 mm
SL, Horigo Bay, Massawa, 3 Apr. 1961. Saudi Arabia (off
Jizan): KAUMM 44, 12 specimens, 40.0–89.0 mm SL, 58–
59 m depth, 29 Feb. 2012; KAUMM 45 (field number:
KAU12–739), 87.0 mm SL, 24–26 m depth, 1 Mar. 2012;
KAUMM 399 (field number: KAU14–366), 73.9 mm SL, 30–
32 m depth, 4 Nov. 2014; KAUMM 421, three specimens, 52.0–
75.0 mm SL, 60–67 m depth, 5 Nov. 2014; SMF 34996, 11
specimens, 49.0–93.0 mm SL, 58–59 m depth, 29 Feb. 2012;
SMF 34997 (field number: KAU 12–738), 80.0 mm SL, 24–
26 m depth, 1 Mar. 2012; SMF 35842 (field number: KAU14–
186–188), three specimens, 64.0–71.3 mm SL, 60–65 m depth, 1
Nov. 2014; SMF 35843 (field number: KAU14–502), 90.0 mm
SL, 42–45 m depth, 5 Nov. 2014. Red Sea (no further locality):
HUJ 19136 (field number: E57/654 a + b), four specimens, 48.2–
60.9 mm SL, 1957; HUJ 19160 (field number: E57/657d),
66.1 mm SL, 1957; HUJ 19203 (field number: 57/655),
61.0 mm SL, 1957.

Results and discussion
Minous inermis Alcock 1889 (Fig. 1a; Table 1)
Material examined. Two specimens: HUJ 19167 (field
number: E57/657b), 63.8 mm SL, off Massawa, Eritrea,
1957; HUJ 19170 (field number: E57/657), 64.9 mm SL, off
Massawa, Eritrea, 1957.
Description. Morphometrics and meristics shown in
Table 1. Body progressively compressed posteriorly, withoutscales, except for lateral-line scales (Fig. 1a). Head moderately
large, with exposed rough bony surface; lacrimal with relatively long anterior and posterior spines, anterior spine canted
anteroventrally, posterior spine much longer than anterior
spine, canted backwards; preopercle with five spines, uppermost spine longest. Snout blunt, its length subequal to orbit
diameter; mouth moderate, posterior margin of maxilla notreaching a vertical through mid-orbit; both jaws with a bandof small, conical teeth, ca. five and three teeth rows at widest
portions of upper and lower jaw, respectively; two elongate
patches of small conical teeth on vomer; no palatine teeth. Eyemoderately large, with ca. 4 cirri on dorsal portion. Dorsal-fin
origin well behind orbit; first spine shorter than second spine,bases of spines close together. Anal-fin origin below base ofthird dorsal-fin soft ray; spines tiny, hidden under skin.
Pectoral fin long, fourth ray longest, its tip extending slightly
beyond a vertical through base of last anal-fin soft ray; lowermost ray free from membrane, its tip extending beyond a
vertical through posterior tip of pelvic fin when depressed.
Pelvic fin short, last soft ray attached to abdomen by broad
membrane. Caudal fin relatively long, truncate.

Fig. 1 Three species of Minous from the Red Sea. a M. inermis,
preserved specimen, HUJ 19170, 64.9 mm SL, off Massawa, Eritrea; b
M. trachycephalus, fresh specimen, SMF 35844, 38.0 mm SL, off Jizan,
Saudi Arabia; c M. coccineus, fresh specimen, SMF 34997, 80.0 mm SL,
off Jizan, Saudi Arabia. Photos by S.V. Bogorodsky (b, c)

Preserved coloration. Head and body brown; each fin pale
brown with broad dark margin; inner surface of pectoral fin
pale brown, without markings.
Distribution. The species is distributed in the northern
Indian Ocean from the southern Red Sea and Somalia east to
the Andaman Sea (Eschmeyer et al. 1979; this study).
Remarks. The examined specimens were identified as
M. inermis on the basis of the following characters: first andsecond dorsal-fin spines close together, the former much
shorter than the latter; pectoral fin relatively long (51.1–
51.4% SL), tip of free pectoral-fin ray extending beyond a
vertical through posterior tip of pelvic fin.
Previously, both specimens had been misidentified as
M. trachycephalus in Frøiland’s (1972) unpublished review of
Red Sea scorpionfishes. Although Goren and Dor (1994) included M. inermis in their checklist of Red Sea fishes, following
Kotthaus (1979), that species was subsequently excluded byGolani and Bogorodsky (2010), who considered Kotthaus’s(1979) locality record for M. inermis (Bab-el-Mandeb Strait,
connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden), to be separate from

Author's personal copy
Mar Biodiv
Table 1 Meristic counts andmorphometric measurements(expressed as percentages ofstandard length) of specimens of
Minous inermis andM. trachycephalus from the Red
Sea

M. inermis
n=2

M. trachycephalus
n=7

Dorsal-fin rays
Anal-fin rays

X, 12 or 13
II, 9 or 11

XI, 8–10 (XI, 10)
II, 8 or 9 (II, 8)

Pectoral-fin rays
Lateral-line tubes

1215 or 1812
15–17 (17)Gill rakers(upper + lower limb = total)

3 or 4 + 12 or 14= 15 or 18

2–4 + 7–9 = 10–12(2 or 3 + 8 = 10 or 11)

Standard length (mm)Body depth

63.8–64.9
32.7–34.5

25.3–55.0
32.8–37.8 (36.7)

Body width
Head length

25.9–25.9
43.4–44.0

28.1–29.8 (29.1)
41.7–45.7 (43.0)

Snout length

14.9–14.9

14.4–15.8 (14.9)

Orbit diameter
Interorbital width at mid-orbit

12.0–14.1
6.7–7.4

13.1–16.5 (14.1)
7.7–10.4 (8.7)

Upper-jaw length
Postorbital length

17.7–18.8
18.7–19.3

18.9–19.1 (19.0)
15.6–17.8 (16.5)

Pre-dorsal-fin lengthPre-anal-fin length
Pre-pelvic-fin length

32.9–36.1
60.7–61.4
37.4–37.9

32.0–34.7 (32.8)
59.0–71.3 (66.9)
38.0–43.2 (40.4)

1st dorsal-fin spine length
2nd dorsal-fin spine length
3rd dorsal-fin spine length
4th dorsal-fin spine length
5th dorsal-fin spine length

9.4–9.4————

4.6–6.1 (5.4)
12.0–15.6 (13.5)
13.6–14.1 (13.8)
13.1–17.0 (14.4)
13.5–18.1 (15.2)

Longest dorsal-fin soft ray length
1st anal-fin spine length
2nd anal-fin spine length
Longest anal-fin soft ray length
Pectoral-fin ray length————
51.1–51.4

22.4–24.4 (23.9)
5.5–7.3 (6.8)
8.5–9.8 (9.2)
20.5–23.5 (22.1)
33.2–43.8 (40.0)

Pelvic-fin spine length
Longest pelvic-fin soft ray length
Caudal-fin length
Caudal-peduncle length
Caudal-peduncle depth
Anterior lacrimal spine length
Posterior lacrimal spine length

14.9–18.5
28.2–29.6—
11.4–11.4
9.2–9.8
4.7–5.5
6.0–6.6

16.3–19.7 (17.5)
24.3–32.4 (30.9)
31.0–36.6 (32.7)
10.3–15.0 (13.1)
8.9–11.5 (10.2)
3.4–3.9 (3.6)
5.0–6.2 (5.7)

Modes and means in parenthesis

the Red Sea proper. Accordingly, the present specimens justify
the reinstatement of M. inermis to the Red Sea fishes checklist.

Minous trachycephalus (Bleeker 1855) (Figs 1b, 2a;Table 1)
Material examined. Seven specimens: Israel: HUJ 1633,
55.0 mm SL, Eilat, May 1951; HUJ 14005, 32.6 mm SL,
Eilat, 8 Sept. 1986; HUJ 14681 (field number: E65/38),
55.2 mm SL, Eilat, 23 June 1965; HUJ 14682 (E65/88),

52.8 mm SL, Eilat, 14 July 1965. Eritrea: HUJ 20655,
25.3 mm SL, Horgigo Bay, 3 Apr. 1961. Saudi Arabia:
KAUMM 422 (field number: KAU14–574), 35.0 mm SL,
off Jizan, 16°34′N,42°33′E, 30–32 m depth, 4 Nov. 2014;
SMF 35844 (field number: KAU 14–556), 38.0 mm SL, off
Jizan, 16°45′N, 42°29′E, 28–30 m depth, 5 Nov. 2014.
Description. Morphometrics and meristics shown in
Table 1. Body moderately compressed, without scales, except
for lateral-line scales (Fig. 1b). Head moderately large, with
exposed rough bony surface; lacrimal with relatively shortanterior and posterior spines, anterior spine canted

Author's personal copy
Mar Biodiv

Fig. 2 Pectoral-fin inner surface coloration. a Minous trachycephalus,
SMF 35844, 38.0 mm SL, off Jizan, Saudi Arabia; b M. coccineus, SMF
34997, 80.0 mm SL, off Jizan, Saudi Arabia

anteroventrally, posterior spine slightly longer than anterior
spine, canted backwards; preopercle with five spines, uppermost spine with pointed tip, remaining spines broad, platelike. Snout blunt, its length subequal to orbit diameter; mouth
moderate, posterior margin of maxilla not reaching a verticalthrough mid-orbit; both jaws with a band of small, conicalteeth, ca. five and ca. three teeth rows at widest portions ofupper and lower jaw, respectively; two elongate patches ofsmall conical teeth on vomer; no palatine teeth. Eye moderately large, with 4–7 cirri on dorsal portion. Dorsal-fin origin
just behind orbit; first spine much shorter than second spine,bases of spines close together. Anal-fin origin below base oflast dorsal-fin spine; spines tiny, hidden under skin. Pectoral
fin moderately long, fourth ray longest, its tip extending beyond a vertical through anal-fin origin but not reaching base oflast anal-fin soft ray; lowermost ray free from membrane, its
tip not reaching or extending slightly beyond a verticalthrough posterior tip of pelvic fin when depressed. Pelvic fin
short, last soft ray attached to abdomen by broad membrane.
Caudal fin relatively long, truncate.

Fresh coloration. Body brownish dorsally, shading pinkish
ventrally; chest and abdomen white ventrally; posterior half ofbody and base of anal fin with tiny white flecks (Fig. 1b). Jaws
anteriorly, snout and head dorsally grayish brown, chin white;
cheek reddish pink preceded a triangular white area at angle ofjaws. Dorsal fin brownish basally followed by a pale orange
zone in spinous and anterior half of soft portions, spinous
portion orangish distally, remaining soft-rayed portion grayish
with orange rays suffused with dark brown. Anal fin pinkishbasally, grayish distally. Outer surface of pectoral fin blackishwith irregular faint pale spots distally and small pale grayflecks at base; inner surface mostly brownish with broadly
orangish yellow outer margin and pale greenish yellow
blotches basally forming hexagonal pattern; free ray gray alternating with pale red bars, tip of ray broadly white (Fig. 2a).
Pelvic fin pinkish basally, grayish distally with numerous
small white blotches. Caudal fin grayish, scattered with numerous small faint white blotches. Tips of rays in caudal andsoft portions of dorsal and anal fins pale gray.
Preserved coloration. Head and body creamy white, darker
dorsally, paler ventrally; pectoral fin brownish, yellow markings on inner surface when fresh retained as pale brown markings; other fins whitish, with brownish margin.
Distribution and habitat. The species is distributed in the
Red Sea and Gulf of Aden eastwards throughout Sri Lanka to
the Philippines and New Caledonia (Eschmeyer et al. 1979; Poss
1999; this study). Specimens collected off Jizan were trawled on
open silty sand and mud bottom at a depth of ca. 30 m.
Remarks. The examined specimens were identified as
M. trachycephalus in having the first and second dorsal-fin
spines close together, the former clearly shorter than the latter;dorsal-fin soft rays 8–10; anal-fin spine and soft rays totaling
10 or 11; approximately equal length lacrimal spines; and theinner pectoral-fin surface with numerous pale yellow blotches,
forming a hexagonal pattern when fresh (Fig. 2a). The freshcoloration of Red Sea specimens differed slightly from a specimen of M. trachycephalus from the Gulf of Thailand [figured
in Matsunuma (2003)] in having somewhat darker pelvic andcaudal fins.
Goren and Dor’s (1994) inclusion of M. trachycephalus in
their checklist of Red Sea fishes, following Frøiland (1972), wasreversed by Golani and Bogorodsky (2010) due to Frøiland’s(1972) mistaken identification (see above). Therefore, the present specimens represent the first available specimen-based records of M. trachycephalus from the Red Sea.

Comments on records of M. monodactylus from the Red
Sea
Minous coccineus Alcock 1890 and M. monodactylus (Blochand Schneider 1801) have also been recorded from the Red
Sea (Eschmeyer et al. 1979; Golani and Bogorodsky 2010).

Author's personal copy
Mar Biodiv

The occurrence of the former in the Red Sea was confirmed inthis study on the basis of numerous specimens (Fig. 1c). Of them,
HUJ 2452, 2471, 19136, 19160 and 19203 had been previously
reported by Frøiland (1972) as Minous superciliosus Gilchrist
and Thompson 1908, that name later being synonymized underM. coccineus by Eschmeyer et al. (1979).
Minous monodactylus was first recorded from the Red Sea
by Tortonese (1937), based on 13 specimens from Massawa,
Eritrea. Subsequent studies, including Eschmeyer et al. (1979)
and Golani and Bogorodsky (2010), followed Tortonese(1937), whose description of preserved specimens included:
dorsal-fin rays XI, 12; anal-fin rays I, 9; the first dorsal-fin
spine about one fourth of the second dorsal-fin spine length;
and the inner pectoral-fin surface whitish with numerous, variously shaped and sized brown spots. However, the relationship of first and second dorsal-fin spine length and pectoral-fin
inner surface coloration were at variance with true
M. monodactylus, that species having the first dorsal-fin spine
equal to or longer than the second, and the pectoral-fin innersurface devoid of distinctive markings (Eschmeyer et al.
1979). In fact, the description given by Tortonese (1937) forM. monodactylus was far more consistent with that ofM. coccineus (Figs 1c, 2b), which appears to have been
misidentified. Although the number of anal-fin rays given by
Tortonese (1937) differed from that of M. coccineus [total
anal-fin rays 10 vs. 11 or 12 in the latter; see Eschmeyer
et al. (1979)], the former is regarded as a simple counting
error. Therefore, M. monodactylus should be excluded fromthe checklist of Red Sea fishes, the only species of Minous
validly included being M. coccineus, M. inermis, andM. trachycephalus. Specimens of Minous coccineus were collected in areas close to islands and also from areas far fromislands on open sand flats from the depths of 24–67 m, whereas two specimens of M. trachycephalus were trawled above
soft substrata at a depth about 30 m. Habitat and depth of
M. inermis in the Red Sea are still unknown.
Acknowledgements We are very grateful to D. Golani (HUJ) for theopportunity to examine specimens, M. Goren (Tel Aviv University) for
specimen information and G. Notarbartolo-di-Sciara for a partial translation of Tortonese (1937). The scientific research cooperation between
Faculty of Marine Sciences (FMS), King Abdulaziz University (KAU),
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and the Senckenberg Research Institute (SRI),
Frankfurt, Germany, in the framework of the Red Sea Biodiversity
Project, during which a part of the present material was collected, wasfunded by KAU GRANT NO. BD/1/432-DSR^. The authors acknowledge, with thanks, KAU and SRI for technical and financial support, as
well as A. Al-Aidaroos and M. H. Gabr (KAU), F. Krupp (SRI and Qatar
Natural History Museum, Doha), and T. J. Alpermann (SRI) for theirconsiderable assistance. The first author greatly appreciates the hospitalityof students and volunteers of the Kagoshima University Museum during
his stay at that institution. We also thank G. Hardy (Ngunguru, New
Zealand) for reading the manuscript and providing help with English.
This study was supported in part by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers
JP26241027, JP24370041, JP23580259, and JP26450265; a JSPS Fellow
grant (PD: 16 J00047); the JSPS Core-to-Core Program, BResearch and
Education Network on Southeast Asian Coastal Ecosystems^; theBCoastal Area Capability Enhancement in Southeast Asia Project^ ofthe Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto, Japan; theBBiological Properties of Biodiversity Hotspots in Japan^ project of the
National Museum of Nature and Science, Tsukuba, Japan; andBEstablishment of Research and Education Network on Biodiversity
and Its Conservation in the Satsunan Islands^ project of Kagoshima
University, adopted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,
Science and Technology, Japan.

References
Amaoka K, Kanayama T (1981) Additional specimens of Minous
longimanus from the western Indian Ocean, distinct fromM. inermis. Japan J Ichthyol 27:330–332
Eschmeyer WN, Hallacher LE, Rama-Rao KV (1979) The scorpionfish
genus Minous (Scorpaenidae, Minoinae) including a new species
from the Indian Ocean. Proc Calif Acad Sci 41(Ser 4):453–473
Frøiland Ø (1972) The scorpionfishes of the Red Sea (Pisces:
Scorpaenidae), a taxonomic and zoogeophical study. PhD dissertation, University of Bergen
Golani D, Bogorodsky SV (2010) The fishes of the Red Sea - reappraisal
and updated checklist. Zootaxa 2463:1–135
Goren M, Dor M (1994) An updated checklist of the fishes of the Red
Sea: CLOFRES II. Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities,
Jerusalem
Kotthaus A (1979) Fische des Indischen Ozeans. Ergebnisse derichthyologischen Untersuchungen während der Expedition des
Forschungsschiffes ‘Meteor’ in den Indischen Ozean, Oktober
1964 bis Mai 1965. A. Systematischer Teil, XXI. Diverse
Ordnungen. Meteor Forsch Ser D Biol 28:6–54
Mandrytsa SA (1990) New fish species of the genus Minous Cuvier(Pisces: Synanceiidae) from the Indian Ocean. Biologiya Morya(Vladivostok) 1990(6):66–67
Mandrytsa SA (1993) Two new species from the genera Choridactylus
and Minous from the Gulf of Aden (Scorpaeniformes,
Synanceiidae). J Ichthyol 33:136–142
Matsunuma M (2003) Minous trachycephalus. In: Yoshida T, Motomura
H, Musikasinthorn P, Matsuura K (eds) Fishes of northern Gulf ofThailand. National Museum of Nature and Science, Tsukuba,
Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto, Kagoshima
University Museum, Kagoshima, p 85
Poss SG (1999) Scorpaenidae. Scorpionfishes (also, lionfishes,
rockfishes, stingfishes, stonefishes, and waspfishes). In: Carpenter
KE, Niem VH (eds) FAO species identification guide for fisheries
purposes. The living marine resources of the western central Pacific.
Vol. 4. Bony fishes part 2 (Mugilidae to Carangidae). FAO, Rome,
pp 2291–2352
Tortonese E (1937) Pesci del mar Rosso. Boll Mus Zool Anat Comp Univ
Torino (Ser 3) 45:153–218