Symphysanodon maunaloae Anderson 1970
Creators: name: William D. Anderson, Jr.
name: Victor G. Springer
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2005
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Perciformes
Symphysanodontidae
Symphysanodon
Symphysanodon maunaloae

description: Symphysanodon maunaloae Anderson, 1970.
When originally described (Anderson, 1970), this species was known only from the Hawaiian Islands (30 specimens, ca. 42-86 mm SL). We have examined 48 specimens (45-162 mm SL) not reported in the original description; they are from Tuamotu Archipelago (BPBM 37136; 71 mm SL.-BPBM 37145; 58 mm SL); Society Islands (GMBL 84-110; 55 mm SL.-GMBL 85-93; 61 mm SL.-Both taken from stomachs of specimens of Etelis, a lutjanid); Hawaiian Islands (BPBM 19651; 2: 122-128 mm SL.-BPBM 21049; 2: 133-141 mm SL.-BPBM 28121; 2: 48-61 mm SL; LACM 46041-4; 10 [of 47]: 77-111 mm SL.-USNM 279252; 2: 127- 162 mm SL); Johnston Atoll (BPBM 29266; one [of 5, others identified as Symphysanodon sp.], 49 mm SL.-BPBM 29371; 53 mm SL); Jumeaux Seamount, New Caledonia (NMNZ P.29249; 102 mm SL); Condor Reef, Caroline Islands (GMBL 72-455; 3: 73-80 mm SL); Kyushu-Palau Ridge (HUMZ 79145-79147; 3: 134-142 mm SL.-HUMZ 79261-79262; 2: 117-128 mm SL.-HUMZ 80341; 134 mm SL); Philippines (GMBL 80- 378; 87 mm SL.-GMBL 80-379; 10: 45-62 mm SL); off Lombok, Indonesia (GMBL 81-158; 2: 74-120 mm SL.-SAIAB [RUSI] 20017; 128 mm SL).
Fourmanoir (1973, figure 4) provided a description and illustration of a postlarva (20 mm SL) of this species collected in the South Pacific at 12°33’S, 170°02’E between the surface and 165 m. Later Fourmanoir (1981:95) furnished data for two specimens (102 & 123 mm SL), writing: “Deux exemplaires de Symphysanodon, examinés après ceux des Philippines (provenance: W. Maleysia peninsula, 200 m, col. Fish. Res. Ins. Penang) paraissent identiques à S. maunaloae connu seulement d' Hawaï.” (=Two specimens of Symphysanodon, examined after those from the Philippines [locality: W. Malaysian peninsula, 200 m, coll. Fish. Res. Ins. Penang] appear identical to S. maunaloae known only from Hawaii.). Based on data provided by Fourmanoir (1981), we identify those specimens as representatives of S. maunaloae. Tameka (1982) examined 50 specimens of S. maunaloae (111-150 mm SL) from the Kyushu-Palau Ridge in 326-500 m and presented a description of the species and illustrations (plate 144) in color of a male (132 mm SL) and a female (115 mm SL), describing the coloration (p. 372) as: “Body yellowish red, paler below. Dorsal and anal fins yellowish red. One paler darkish, vertical band from occiput to base of pectoral fin.” Katayama (1984:138) mentioned that this species occurs on the Kyushu-Palau Ridge and in the Hawaiian Islands, that its body is reddish -yellow, and that it reaches 150 mm SL. Masuda et al. (1984, plate 124, figures G & H) published color photographs of a 130-mm male and a 120-mm female. Gloerfelt-Tarp and Kailola (1984:172-173) provided a short description and a photograph of S. maunaloae and related the coloration as: “Rosy, darker above; two or 3 dusky cross-bands below dorsal fin, the first from fin origin to above pectoral fin more noticeable.” The specimen listed by Gloerfelt-Tarp and Kailola (1984:334) as Symphysanodon sp. (RUSI 20017), collected off the southeast coast of Lombok, is a representative of S. maunaloae (see above). Randall et al. (1985) reported six specimens (47-55.5 mm SL) of this species collected at Johnston Island in the central Pacific in depths of 274-305 m and observed it at depths of 230-366 m. Ralston et al. (1986) repeatedly observed individuals identified by them as S. maunaloae at Johnston Atoll in a series of dives in September/October 1983 from the submersible Makalii in depths of 230-365 m. Seki and Callahan (1988) noted that S. maunaloae and S. typus were among the fishes most frequently consumed by the lutjanid Pristipomoides zonatus at Pathfinder Reef, Mariana Archipelago, in April and May 1984. Lee (1989) presented a table comparing morphological characters of S. maunaloae, S. typus, and S. katayamai. Chave and Mundy (1994) and Chave and Malahoff (1998) reported this species based on photographs made from submersibles in depths of 131-398 m over a variety of substrates in waters of the Hawaiian Archipelago and at Johnston Atoll and published a photograph (figure 30 in Chave and Mundy, 1994) of two individuals identified by them as S. maunaloae. Chave and Mundy (1994: 396) noted that S. maunaloae: “Aggregated near the bottom. Darted downward into holes when approached, and two dark bands appeared behind the head.” Myers (1999) reported S. maunaloae in a tabular checklist of Micronesian fishes as occurring in the northern Marianas, which he defined as Anatahan to Maug, and Myers and Donaldson (2003) included it in their checklist of Marianas fishes. Senou (2002:733) provided a brief account that includes diagnostic data and the following comments on bathymetric and geographic ranges: “From 300 to 500m depth. Kyushu-Palau Ridge; Hawaiian Isls.”
Symphysanodon maunaloae, then, ranges widely -from the Tuamotu, Society, and Hawaiian islands and Johnston Atoll westward through the Pacific to at least the Philippines and Lombok in Indonesia, and apparently, based on Fourmanoir’s (1981: 95) brief note (“provenance: W. Maleysia peninsula”), to the Strait of Malacca off Malaysia. Locality data for S. maunaloae are plotted in Figure 9. Anderson (1970) gave the depth range for this species as 223-238 m, Tameka (1982) reported it from 326-500 m, and Katayama (1984:138) wrote that S. maunaloae has been caught in depths of 300-500 m. Depths of collection for the additional material reported herein range from 150 (150-280)-705 m. If observations from submersibles be included, the known depth range for specimens collected or observed near or on the bottom is 131-705 m.
Three color photographs of specimens of Symphysanodon are available at http:// www2. bishopmuseum.org/PBS/images/jer/images. asp?nm=Symphys&size=thumbnail (last visited, 28 February 2005). They are from left to right in that presentation: BPBM 28121, BPBM 14181, and BPBM 19651. The specimen depicted in the middle photograph, BPBM 14181, has been misplaced and has not been identified to species. The other two are specimens of S. maunaloae. One of those (BPBM 28121, 61 mm SL) is mainly pink on head, body, and fins, with a dull reddish bar extending from dorsum to about pectoral-fin base just posterior to operculum. The other (BPBM 19651, 122 mm SL) has a very pale pink wash over head and body; fins with much white; considerable dull reddish pigment on many interradial membranes of dorsal fin; distal ends of both lobes of caudal fin dull reddish.
Anderson (1970:338) mentioned that seven (62-86 mm SL) of the 30 specimens of S. maunaloae that he examined in preparing the original description “have the pelvic fin well produced (with the medial branch of the first pelvic soft ray reaching anterior part of base of anal fin or beyond), whereas in the other specimens... the pelvic fin, although usually produced, falls short of the anal fin.” He tried to determine the sex of several individuals, but, because of the relatively small size of the specimens, was only partly successful. Nevertheless, he suggested that the well-produced pelvic fin is a male characteristic -as it is in S. berryi (see Anderson, 1970, and section below on S. berryi). Tameka (1982:372) observed that: “First soft ray of pelvic fin elongated in male, reaching backward beyond base of anal fin or to caudal fin. Pelvic fin of female not elongated.” In the specimens reported by Anderson (1970), the pelvic fin varies in length from ca. 22->54% SL. In 16 of the additional specimens (79-141 mm SL) examined, the pelvic fin is appreciably elongated, ranging in length from ca. 42->80 % SL. Based on gross examination of the gonads, two of those specimens (120 & 128 mm SL) are males.
Anderson (1970) gave the lengths of the caudal-fin lobes of S. maunaloae as ca. 31.2 - ca. 48.9 % SL (upper lobe) and ca. 30.0 - ca. 43.1 % SL (lower lobe). Measurements of the additional specimens expand those ranges to 29-ca.75 % SL (upper lobe) and ca. 28- ca.76 % SL (lower lobe). Two of the specimens (120 & 128 mm SL) with very long caudal fin lobes are males (based on gross examination of the gonads). In S. maunaloae, wellproduced caudal-fin lobes appear to be characteristic of males, as they are in S. berryi (see Anderson, 1970, and section below on S. berryi).
Two of the three specimens of S. maunaloae caught off Lombok, Indonesia, are appreciably larger than those reported in the original description (120 & 128 mm SL vs. ca. 42- 86 mm SL). In a number of morphometric characters (e.g., depth of body) those two Lombok specimens exhibit ranges that do not overlap or overlap only slightly with the ranges of the other material studied. Comparisons of the ranges for those characters for shallowbodied vs. deep-bodied morphs are presented in Table 7. The two large specimens collected off Lombok are males, based on gross examination of gonads and lengths of pelvic fins and caudal-fin lobes (see above). We attribute the differences seen in Table 7 to allometric growth and sexual dimorphism.
description: Published as part of William D. Anderson, Jr. & Victor G. Springer, 2005, Review of the perciform fish genus Symphysanodon Bleeker (Symphysanodontidae), with descriptions of three new species, S. mona, S. parini, and S. rhax., pp. 1-44 in Zootaxa 996 on pages 26-28