Parabathymyrus philippinensis Ho, Smith & Shao 2015
Creators: name: Huang, Jian-Fu
name: Chen, Hong-Ming
name: Chan, Tin-Yam
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Anguilliformes
Congridae
Parabathymyrus
Parabathymyrus philippinensis

description: Parabathymyrus philippinensis Ho, Smith & Shao, 2015
Figs 1–4; Table. 1
Parabathymyrus philippinensis Ho, Smith & Shao, 2015:131, fig. 1 (holotype,ASIZP 68112, 398 mm TL, paratype,ASIZP 68117, 341 mm TL, Aurora, Luzon, Philippines, depth 233–356 m).
Specimen examined. NMMB-P30757 (1, 268), Dong-gang fishing port, Pingtung County, SW Taiwan, commercial trawler, 17 Aug. 2017, coll. J.-F. Huang. TOU-AE9460 (1, 355), DaXi fishing port, Yilan County, NE Taiwan, commercial trawler, 14 Mar. 2023, coll. J.-F. Huang.
Description of Taiwanese specimens. Head length 15.7–16.8% of TL; preanal length 40.7–41.4; predorsal length 15.8–17.7; trunk length 24.6–25.0; tail length 58.6–59.3; depth at anus 6.3–6.5. Eye diameter 14.3–18.4% of HL; interorbital width 11.6–17.5; snout length 16.8–19.5; interbranchial width 20.3–20.4; pectoral fin length 36.6–41.7; gill opening 13.7–14.8; upper jaw length 29.3–30.1.
Body moderately elongate and stout, anteriorly cylindrical in cross section, gradually becoming oval and compressed posteriorly; trunk length one fourth of total length; tail much longer than body. Dorsal-fin origin slightly above base of pectoral fin. Anal fin starting immediately behind anus, slightly anterior to middle of total length. Gill opening relatively small, slightly smaller than eye diameter and snout length.
Head slightly large; snout short and blunt; eye relatively large, more than half upper jaw length. Mouth moderately large, rictus extending to posterior margin of eye.
Lateral line complete, 7 pores before pectoral fin base, 8 pores before dorsal-fin origin, 43–44 pores before anal-fin origin, and 139–143 total pores.
Head pores (Fig. 3): supraorbital canal with 3 pores, first and second pores located in front of anterior nostril, third pore located above anterior nostril; infraorbital canal with 5 pores, first pore located below posterior nostril, second, third, and fourth pores located under eye, and fifth pore located under posterior margin of eye; preoperculomandibular canal with 11 pores. No pore on adnasal, frontal, and supratemporal commissure. Predorsal vertebrae 9–11; preanal vertebrae 44–45; total vertebrae 141–146.
Teeth small and blunt (Fig. 4A, B), some of them fang; 4–5 rows of small fang teeth on intermaxilla forming a rounded patch; vomerine teeth small blunt and forming a small triangular patch; maxillary and mandibular teeth, wider anteriorly and in 4 or 5 rows, gradually narrower posteriorly and in 1 or 2 rows.
Coloration. When fresh (Fig. 1A, B), body light brownish dorsally and whitish. After preservation (Fig. 2A, B), body brownish and abdomen yellowish.
Distribution. Known previously only from the Philippines and now recorded on both the northern and southern coasts of Taiwan, at depths of 233– 356 m.
Remarks
The first time reporting Parabathymyrus philippinensis record from Taiwan. The two specimens collected from Dong-gang and DaXi generally agree with the original description given by Ho, Smith & Shao (2015), except for some minor differences. The head length is slightly smaller (15.7–16.8% vs. 17.5–17.9% TL), trunk length is slightly larger (24.6–25.0% vs. 20.9–23.7% TL), eye diameter is slightly smaller (14.3–18.4% vs. 17.2–21.3% HL), interbranchial is smaller (20.3–20.4% vs. 26.6–29.2% HL), and upper jaw length is slightly smaller (29.3–30.1% vs. 31.7–32.5% HL). Parabathymyrus philippinensis differs from the other two congeners in having 3 supraorbital pores (vs. 4), 139–143 total lateral line pores (vs. 121–132 in P. macrophthalmus Kamohara, 1938, 159– 163 in P. brachyrhynchus (Fowler, 1934)), and 141–146 total vertebrae (vs. 128–137 in P. macrophthalmus, 149–152 in P. brachyrhynchus).
description: Published as part of Huang, Jian-Fu, Chen, Hong-Ming & Chan, Tin-Yam, 2024, Three new records of the conger eels (Anguilliformes: Congridae) from Taiwan and the Dongsha Islands, pp. 145-158 in Zootaxa 5550 (1) on pages 145-149, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5550.1.15, http://zenodo.org/record/14388477