Lubricogobius rubrofasiatus Chen, Liao, Ho & Shao, 2024, sp. n.
Creators: name: Chen, I-Shiung
name: Liao, Yun-Chih
name: Ho, Lin-Tai
name: Shao, Kwang-Tsao
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Perciformes
Gobiidae
Lubricogobius
Lubricogobius rubrofasiatus

description: Lubricogobius rubrofasiatus sp. n.
(Ľ帶AEḃṻ)
(Figs. 1–2)
Material examined
Holotype. —NMI-17004 (originally from ASIZP-0070001), 18.8 mm SL, 40–45 m depth, Malina Bay, South China Sea, 2007 marine expedition, the Philippines.
Diagnosis
This new goby can be distinguished from other congeners by following unique combination of features: (1) second dorsal fin I/10; anal fin I/7; pectoral fin 18; (2) head and trunk entirely naked; (3) anterior and posterior nostrils as short tubes; (4) gill opening large, extending ventrally beyond the rear vertical of peropercle; (5) infraorbital papillae all longitudinal; and (5) coloration in life: body and head creamy white to yellow; iris bright orange; an oblique bright red orange stripe from nape to upper lip through eye; dorsal, anal, pelvic and caudal fins all with yellow to orange with distal deep black margin on fin membrane.
Description
Head and body compressed. Head moderate large. Eye high and large. Snout rounded and very short. Mouth moderately large and strongly oblique, about 50 degree to horizontal axis. Interorbital region very narrow. Both anterior and posterior nostrils as a short tubes. Upper jaw with an outer row of large well-spaced canine teeth and two to three inner rows of conical teeth; front of lower jaw with outer row of large canines and one to two inner rows of small conical teeth. Tongue truncate and slightly bi-lobed. Gill opening large, extending ventrally beyond the rear vertical of peropercle. Vertebral count 25. Dorsal pterygiophore formula 3/II II I I 0/9.
Morphometric proportions were listed as follows. Head length 34.6; predorsal length 40.0; snout to second dorsal fin origin 61.1; snout to anus 67.6; snout to anal fin origin 68.7; prepelvic length 32.4; caudal peduncle length 20.8; caudal peduncle depth 11.5; first dorsal fin base 21.8; second dorsal fin base 23.8; anal fin base 16.6; caudal fin length 30.4; pectoral fin length 30.5; pelvic fin length 27.9; body depth at pelvic fin origin 24.3; body depth at anal fin origin 20.9; maximal body depth 27.2; body width at anal fin origin 7.4; and pelvic fin origin to anus 35.9 all in % of SL. Snout length 21.5; eye diameter 34.2; cheek depth 31.1; postorbital length 39.3; maximal head width 59.8; head width at upper gill-opening 46.6; bony interorbital width 12.3; fleshy interorbital width 27.0; and lower jaw length 48.9 all in % of head length. Caudal peduncle depth 55.4 in % of caudal peduncle length.
Fins. —First dorsal fin VI; second dorsal fin I/10; pectoral fin 18; anal fin I/7; pelvic fin I/5+I/5. The selected fin rays counts which compared to other 3 valid species were listed in Table 1. First dorsal fin with third and fourth rays slightly longer than other. Second dorsal fin higher than first dorsal fin. The fin-membranes of both dorsal fins well separated. Anal fin smaller than second dorsal fin which origin inserted below between third and fourth branched rays of second dorsal fins. Caudal fin large and rounded. Pectoral fin moderate large, with upper and lower two unbranched rays and the rear extending near the vertical of anus. Pelvic fin large, with complete frenum and well-developed connecting membrane.
PS. Meristic data of congeneric species from review and new species papers from Randall & Senou (2001), Prokofiev (2009), Allen (2015), Allen & Erdmann (2016).
Scales. —LR 25, TR 9, PreD 0. Head and predorsal scales entirely without any scales. Body with large cycloid or ctenoid scales. Belly naked.
Head lateral-line system
Canals. —No any canal and head pore.
Head papillae.—Left side of head papillae almost abraded, and the following description only from the right side. Row a short. Row b short and longitudinal, but located rather high around the horizon of lower margin of orbit. Row cp single papilla. Row c short and longitudinal which just below orbit. Row d with four to five large papillae on cheek. Row f longitudinal as a pair of rows with four papillae. Row z not seen, but possibly abraded. Opercular rows seriously abraded, rows os and oi only seen as two to three papillae.
Coloration in fresh and preservative. — Body and head somewhat semi-transparent, generally with creamy white to yellow background. Iris bright orange. Head with an oblique bright red orange stripe from nape to upper lip through eye. The dorsal region of red orange stripe forming as a V shape mark on anterior nape. Both dorsal and anal fins with basal bright yellow, and distal half region with bright orange and deep black on distal fin membrane. Caudal fin base with creamy-white basal region, bright yellow in the middle and orange to deep black on the distal margin. Pectoral orange yellow with distal grayish region of fin membrane. Pelvic fin yellow, with distal orange to deep black margin. While the fresh specimen transferred into formalin preservative, all bright yellow and orange have faded to snow white to pale white. The marginal, deep black pattern on fins is still remained similar to fresh specimen.
Distribution. So far, this species had been only recorded in the Philippines.
Etymology. The specific name is referred to Latin “ rubro” +”fasicata ” means “orange red” + “stripe” as the characteristic feature of head.
Remarks
This new species, Lubricogobius rubrofasciatus, was merely collected from the Philippines. However, it is still possible to find it in more localities around other tropical or subtropical regions of the Indo-Pacific. In morphological comparison, L. rubrofasciatus can be well distinguished from both species of L. exiguus and L. ornatus by the following features: (1) second dorsal rays 10 vs. modally 9; (2) coloration in live: dorsal, anal and caudal fins with distal black margin vs. all uniform yellow to orange which turned to pale white while preserved. Furthermore, L. rubrofasciatus can also be well separated from L. dinah by following features: (1) anterior nostril present vs. absent; and (2) color in live: head with an oblique orange red stripe through eye and trunk yellow to creamy white with fin membranes of dorsal, anal and caudal fins with distal deep black margin vs. dorsum with snow white, ventral side with bright yellow and all fins yellow and unmarked. In comparison with recently described one, Lubricogobius rubrofasciatus can be easily distinguished from Lubricogobius tre by the following features: (1) second dorsal fin rays 10 vs. 9; and (2) color in live: head with an orange red stripe and caudal fin with distal black margin vs. head and caudal unmarked.
description: Published as part of Chen, I-Shiung, Liao, Yun-Chih, Ho, Lin-Tai & Shao, Kwang-Tsao, 2024, A new species of marine gobiid fish genus Lubricogobius (Teleostei: Gobiidae) from the Philippines, pp. 183-188 in Zootaxa 5550 (1) on pages 184-186, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5550.1.18, http://zenodo.org/record/14388707