Parupeneus sinai Uiblein 2021, n. sp.
Creators: name: Uiblein, Franz
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Perciformes
Mullidae
Parupeneus
Parupeneus sinai

description: Parupeneus sinai n. sp.
Sinai Goatfish
(Figs 1, 3F; Tab. II)
Parupeneus sp.: Randall (2004: 3).
Material examined
Holotype. – MNHN 1967-0557, 83 mm SL, northern Red Sea, most likely Gulf of Suez; collector: Robert-Philippe Dollfus, collected between December 1927 and March 1929.
Diagnosis
Pectoral fins 15; lateral-line scales 27; gill rakers 8 + 28-29 = 36-37; measurements in % SL (only small-sized fish available): body depth at first dorsal-fin origin 24; body depth at anus 20; caudal-peduncle depth 8.7; maximum head depth 21; head depth through eye 18; interorbital length 7.5; head length 32; snout length 13; postorbital length 10; orbit length 8.3; upper jaw length 12; barbel length 26; caudal-peduncle length 23; height of second anal-fin ray 14; pelvic-fin length 24; pectoral-fin length 24; height of second dorsal-fin spine 18; height of third dorsal-fin spine 20 and height of ninth dorsal-fin ray 7.7; posterior margin of maxilla evenly, rather symmetrically rounded; snout dorsally elevated; preserved fish pale brown.
Description
Quantitative morphological characters
Measurements in % SL and counts are given in table II; morphometric data as ratios of SL for holotype: body moderately elongate, body depth at first dorsal-fin origin 4.2; body depth at anal-fin origin 4.9; head length 3.2, greater than maximum body depth; snout rather long (7.4), much longer than postorbital length (9.4) and only slightly shorter than anal-fin height (6.9); eyes large, orbit length 12.1, only slightly smaller than caudal peduncle depth (11.5); jaws relatively short (upper-jaw length 8.3), not reaching to below anterior orbit margin; barbels long (3.8), reaching well beyond level of preopercular margin; first dorsal fin with well-developed, but tiny first spine (34); second dorsal-fin spine 5.8, lower than third spine (5.0); pelvic and pectoral fins equal in length (4.1), longer than caudal peduncle (4.4); penultimate and ultimate (eighth and ninth) dorsal-fin rays rather low and subequal in height (13), lower than last (seventh) anal-fin ray (11).
Qualitative morphological characters
Mouth small, slightly supraterminal, posterior margin of maxilla evenly, rather symmetrically rounded with a weak dorsoposterior extension; snout dorsally elevated, not in line with dorsal head contour; anterior nostril a rounded flat tube at level of ventral pupil margin, posterior nostril a tiny vertical slit in front of mid eye; interorbital space flat; a single flat spine posterior on operculum at level of ventral pupil margin; lateral line conspicuous, anteriorly slightly convex until level of second dorsal-fin origin, then nearly straight; 2.5 scale rows above lateral line, ca. 5.5 rows below, second dorsal-fin origin positioned slightly anterior of anal-fin origin; pectoral fins and first dorsal fin pointed.
Colour
Preserved HT with mostly uniformly pale-brown head and body; head from behind jaws to lower orbit margin with an oblique brown bar of about pectoral-fin width which passes eye posteriorly and ends near preopercular margin behind eye; fins pale brown and partly hyaline.
Etymology
Named after the Sinai Peninsula which borders the northern Red Sea including the Gulf of Suez and Gulf of Aqaba, where the specimen is assumed to have been collected by Robert-Philippe Dollfus (1887-1976), French zoologist, ichthyologist and parasitologist, during his research mission in that area from December 1927 to March 1929 (Dollfus, 1931). The species name is used as a noun in apposition.
Distribution and size
Northern Red Sea, possibly Gulf of Suez, locality and depth unknown; attains at least 8.3 cm SL.
Remarks
Due to a partly damaged jaw on the left side, only the right head and body are shown in figure 3F, with the image reversed to facilitate comparisons. Inspection of a radiograph of the HT of P. sinai n. sp. revealed that the dorsally elevated snout structure is the result of a particularly high ascending process of the premaxilla (see also Kim, 2002).
description: Published as part of Uiblein, Franz, 2021, Taxonomic review of the " posteli-species group " of goatfishes (genus Parupeneus, Mullidae), with description of a new species from the northern Red Sea, pp. 63-77 in Cybium 45 (1) on page 74, DOI: 10.26028/cybium/2021-451-008, http://zenodo.org/record/10493568