Pristipomoides amoenus
Creators: name: Shimose, Tamaki
name: Suzuki, Nobuaki
name: Iwatsuki, Yukio
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Actinopterygii
Perciformes
Lutjanidae
Pristipomoides
Pristipomoides amoenus

description: Pristipomoides amoenus (Snyder 1911)
New English name: Pale ornate jobfish
New Japanese name: Usu-hana-fuedai
Figs. 1B, 2B, 3; Table 1, 2
Holotype. USNM 68231 (holotype), 203 mm standard length (SL), Naha, Okinawa, Japan
Non-type specimens. SNFR 20588–20603, 16 specimens, 135–217 mm SL, collected from 21 July 2010 to 29 June 2012 by T. Shimose at Ishigaki Island, Okinawa, Japan.
Diagnosis. Distinguished from congeners by the following combination of characters: pored scales on the lateral line 59–63; body moderately deep 32.1–35.7% of SL; lower gill rakers 9–11 (modally 10); body color pink dorsally to white on belly; four yellow blotches dorsally on side of the body; small silvery blue spots on dorsal area of the body and forming two or more wavy lines (often remaining in preserved specimens); anterior dorsal fin and upper area of the caudal fin yellow; central to posterior of the dorsal fin, central to lower part of the caudal fin, and pectoral fin pink; pelvic and anal fin pinkish white; no prominent white margin on dorsal, anal, and caudal fins.
Description. Counts and proportional measurements as percentage of SL for holotype and non-types (16 Ishigaki specimens) are shown in Table 1. Body moderately deep 32.1–35.7% SL; caudal peduncle shallow 10.0–10.9% SL; pre-dorsal length 37.7–42.2% SL; pre-anal length 61.6–65.3% SL; head length 35.2–38.3% SL; eye diameter 10.8–11.8% SL; snout length 11.1–13.3% SL; upper jaw length 15.1–16.6% SL; suborbital depth 3.7–5.1% SL, body laterally compressed, its width 14.6–18.1% SL; inter-orbital slightly convex, inter-orbital width 8.5–10.4% SL; 4 th dorsal fin spine longest, its length 11.2–13.0% SL, 11 th dorsal fin ray longer than the others, its length 11.4–15.1% SL; 3 rd anal fin spine longest, its length 8.6–10.8% SL; 8 th anal fin ray longer than the others, its length 12.2–14.8% SL; pectoral fin length 28.1–34.2% SL; pelvic fin spine length 12.2–14.8% SL; pelvic fin ray length 19.8–23.2% SL; dorsal fin IX–X, 10–11 (modally X, 11); anal fin III, 8; pectoral fin 15–16; pelvic fin I, 5; pored lateral line scales 59–63; scales above lateral line 6–7; scales below lateral line 15–16; upper gill rakers 4–9; lower gill rakers 9–11 (modally 10); rod-shaped (excluding rudimentary) upper gill rakers 1–3 (modally 2); rod-shaped lower gill rakers 8–10 (modally 9).
Color when fresh. Head to dorsal area of the body pink; lower jaw to belly pinkish white; one yellow blotch on inter-orbital and four yellow blotches on dorsal area of the body; silvery blue spot on the upper area of the opercle; many small silvery blue spots on the dorsal area of the body forming two wavy lines, one on dorsal fin base and one following the lateral line to dorsal edge of the caudal peduncle; anterior margin of the dorsal fin and upper margin of the caudal fin yellow; central to posterior of the dorsal fin, central to lower part of the caudal fin, and pectoral fin pink; pelvic and anal fins pinkish white.
Color when preserved. Coloration and markings mostly fade in preservative, but blue spots remain as brown for several years in preserved specimens. The holotype of P. amoenus was mostly uniformly pale yellowish brown, but brown spots were recognizable on the dorsal fin base.
Remarks. The species was described as a member of Platyinius Gill by Snyder (1911) based on a specimen collected at the market in Naha, Okinawa, Japan. Allen (1985) regarded it as a junior synonym of P. argyrogrammicus and most authors (e.g. Anderson 1987) followed due to very similar morphology in preserved specimens.
The specific name amoenus means “charming” or “beautiful” in Latin, leading to the English common name “ornate jobfish”. The new English common name “Pale ornate jobfish” is proposed for P. amoenus because the pink, yellow, and silvery-blue colors are not as distinct as P. argyrogrammicus. New Japanese name “Usu-hana-fuedai” is also proposed with the same meaning.
description: Published as part of Shimose, Tamaki, Suzuki, Nobuaki & Iwatsuki, Yukio, 2020, Pristipomoides amoenus (Snyder 1911), a valid species of jobfish (Pisces, Lutjanidae), with comparisons to P. argyrogrammicus (Valenciennes 1832), pp. 469-476 in Zootaxa 4728 (4) on pages 472-474, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4728.4.5, http://zenodo.org/record/3626618