Upeneus willwhite Uiblein & Motomura 2021, n. sp.
Creators: name: Uiblein, Franz
name: Motomura, Hiroyuki
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Actinopterygii
Perciformes
Mullidae
Upeneus
Upeneus willwhite

description: Upeneus willwhite n. sp.
White’s Goatfish
(Figures 1F, 2–6; Tables 2, 3)
Upeneus guttatus Day, 1868: White et al. 2013; Uiblein et al. 2017a (in part)
Material examined. Holotype. CSIRO 7217-07, 90 mm SL, EIO, S Indonesia, Lombok, Tanjung Luar, fish market, William White (photo of fresh HT, Figure 1F)
Paratype. MZB 23014, 92 mm SL, same sampling data as holotype.
Diagnosis. Dorsal fins VII + 9; pectoral fins 14; gill rakers 6 + 15–17 = 21–23; body moderately elongate and laterally slightly compressed; measurements as % SL: body depth at first dorsal-fin origin 23–24; body depth at anal-fin origin 20–21; caudal-peduncle depth 9.6–9.9, caudal-peduncle width 4.2–4.3; maximum head depth 20–21; head depth through eye 16; head length 29; snout length 10–11; orbit length 7.1–7.5; upper-jaw length 12; barbel length 20; caudal-fin length 28–30; anal-fin height 16–17; pelvic-fin length 20–21; pectoral-fin length 19–20; first dorsal-fin height 20, dorsal-fin spines proportionally decreasing in height; second dorsal-fin height 17; total oblique bars on caudal fin 11 – 14, upper caudal-fin lobe with 5–6 brown mostly straight bars; lower caudal-fin lobe with 6–8 short brown bars ventrally, connecting dorsally to a brown stripe of about orbit diameter in its maximum width, and with about 3 short red, brownish-ochre bars along dorsal margin that do not correspond with bars on ventral-lobe margin; caudal-fin stripe and bars retained after preservation; dorsal fins in fresh fish with 3–4 thin brown stripes, retained in preservative; barbels reddish white when fresh; body colour in freshly deceased fish dark brown dorsally and pale brown ventrally, ventral margin white; mid-lateral body stripe dark brown, rather inconspicuous on snout and posterior half of body; head entirely grey brown; body and head dark brown dorsally and pale brown ventrally when preserved.
Description. Measurements in % SL and counts are given in Table 3; morphometric data as ratios of SL for holotype, data for paratype in brackets: body moderately elongate and laterally slightly compressed, body depth at first dorsal-fin origin 4.3 [4.3]; body depth at anal-fin origin 4.9 [4.9]; head depth through eye 5.1 [4.8]; head length 3.4 [3.5], larger than maximum body depth and subequal to caudal-fin length (3.6 [3.4]); first dorsal-fin height 5.1 [4.9], subequal to barbel length (5.1 [5.1]) and larger than second dorsal-fin height (6.0 [5.8]); pelvic-fin length 5.0 [4.7], slightly larger than pectoral-fin length (5.2 [4.9]) and subequal to body depth at anal-fin origin; caudal-peduncle depth 10 [10], distinctly larger than orbit length (14 [13]); and caudal-peduncle width 23 [24], subequal to pectoral-fin width (22 [23]).
Colour. Fresh HT. Dorsal part of head and body grey brown from snout to above eye and above lateral line; dorsal body colour appearing marbled due to grey scales with dark grey-brown edges; dark grey-brown band of about pupil diameter in width along entire dorsal body margin, becoming more conspicuous behind first dorsal fin and narrows behind second dorsal fin to a dark grey, partly blackish stripe; a similarly coloured dark grey, partly blackish mid-lateral body stripe of pupil diameter in width from behind eye to caudal-fin base crossing the faint white-greyish lateral line below second dorsal fin; below of mid-lateral body stripe scales pale grey or white with brown-greenish edges forming four oblique bands that become weaker and more ochre-coloured distally, before ending on lower part of caudal-fin base or above posterioventral half of body; a fifth faint-yellowish band from below pectoral-fin base to above anal-fin origin; head below eye from behind snout pale grey with grey-brown dots or streaks and two faint-reddish blotches on ventral margin below and behind eye; iris red to rose whitish; ventral part of head and body white creamy; caudal fin with five oblique brown-ochre bars of about half pupil width on upper lobe, the most anterior bar at lobe base bent, the remaining bars more straight; white-hyaline interspaces between bars increasing in width from being narrower than bars proximally to double-bar width distally; tip of upper caudal-fin lobe white hyaline; lower caudal-fin lobe with eight short brown bars, along ventral margin of lobe brown streaks on ventral-most fin rays; white-hyaline interspaces between bars increasing distally to more than double-bar width; dark brown stripe along middle of lower caudal-fin lobe of about orbit diameter in its maximum width, stripe originating from a large, vertically extended dark-brown patch on caudal-fin base, connecting there with mid-lateral body stripe; lower caudal-fin lobe stripe changes from dark brown to brown red distally, ending as a dark-brown lobe tip; dorsal part of lower caudal-fin lobe with three brownish-ochre bars of about twice the width of bars on ventral side of lobe and with white-hyaline interspaces as wide as these bars; first dorsal fin hyaline with rather irregularly arranged pale-brown pigmentation spots, streaks or small blotches on or between individual spines giving a weak indication of a horizontal stripe close to fin base and three more oblique stripes further above; first dorsal-fin tip unpigmented; second dorsal fin hyaline with pale-brown spots arranged into three horizontal stripes, fin tip pale-brown; pectoral, pelvic and anal fins hyaline, weakly pale reddish-brown along several fin rays; barbels rose whitish, pale red on base.
Preserved HT. Dark brown dorsally at level of snout to termination of lateral line at caudal-fin base; pale brown to beige ventrally below eyes and level of pectoral-fin base; behind pectoral-fin base to second dorsal-fin base two weakly indicated brown bands intermingled with beige; caudal-fin bars and stripe and dorsal-fin pigmentation well retained; other fins pale hyaline; barbels pale.
Etymology. The name “ willwhite ” is used as a composed noun in apposition. It honours the ichthyologist Dr. William T. White, Australian National Fish Collection, CSIRO National Research Collections Australia, Hobart, Australia, for collecting and photographing mullid specimens from S Indonesia and making them available for taxonomic research (including the types of Upeneus willwhite).
Distribution, habitat, size. Only known from Lombok, S Indonesia; occurs most probably on shallow sandy bottoms; attains at least 92 mm SL.
Remarks. This species was obtained at a fish market and hence may have local commercial value.
description: Published as part of Uiblein, Franz & Motomura, Hiroyuki, 2021, Three new goatfishes of the genus Upeneus from the Eastern Indian Ocean and Western Pacific, with an updated taxonomic account for U. itoui (Mullidae: japonicus-species group), pp. 298-324 in Zootaxa 4938 (3) on pages 313-314, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4938.3.2, http://zenodo.org/record/4569653