Journal of the
Ocean Science Foundation

An open-access free online peer-reviewed Marine Biology Journal, since 2008.

published by the Ocean Science Foundation

 
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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Lethrinus mitchelli, a new species of emperor fish (Teleostei: Lethrinidae) from Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea

Gerald R. Allen, Benjamin C. Victor & Mark V. Erdmann

Abstract

A new species of emperor fish, Lethrinus mitchelli, is described on the basis of three specimens, 109.4-111.3 mm SL, collected from 20 m at the East Cape region of Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea. It is similar to the sympatric relatives L. semicinctus and L. rubrioperculatus, but differs in color pattern and has a narrower cheek (cheek height 3.2-3.6 in head length vs. 2.4-2.9).Other diagnostic features include head length (2.7 in SL) greater than body depth (3.0-3.1 in SL); the snout excluding the lip 1.3-1.4 in cheek height; the snout profile nearly straight, without a prominent hump, and about 55 degrees to the upper jaw; conical lateral jaw teeth; the interorbital area nearly flat or convex; the fourth dorsal-fin spine longest; lateral-line scales 47; transverse scale rows below and above the lateral line 15 and 4.5 rows; and a fully-scaled area adjacent to the prominent bony spine at the posteriormost margin of the opercle (excluding fleshy flap). The new species has a distinctive color pattern: brown dorsally, whitish ventrally, with a broad, brown, posteriorly tapering band on the midlateral body, partially split anteriorly by a relatively broad, ascending diagonal white band. Lethrinus mitchelli is 6.11% sequence divergent (pairwise) in the mtDNA COI marker from its nearest relative, L. semicinctus, also from the East Indies. A table of COI divergences among mtDNA lineages assigned to 27 of the 28 known species of Lethrinus shows a set of distinctly different lineages, from 3.32% to 20.85% divergent from each other (minimum interspecific distances).

 
 
 

CITATION:

Allen, G.R., Victor, B.C. & Erdmann, M.V. (2021) Lethrinus mitchelli, a new species of emperor fish (Teleostei: Lethrinidae) from Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea. Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation, 38, 66-77.

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5172763

publication date: 9 August 2021