RESEARCH ARTICLE
Redescription of the cardinalfish
Apogonichthyoides maculipinnis (Percomorpha:
Apogonidae: Apogoninae) from the Maldives, last collected
118 years ago
Thomas H. Fraser
Abstract
Apogonichthyoides maculipinnis, a deeper-dwelling
cardinalfish, is redescribed from the holotype and
a second specimen collected recently, including a
live color photograph. Both Regan's holotype,
collected in April 1900, and the new specimen were
collected at the same atoll in the Maldives. Diagnostic
color features include: a dark wedge-shaped bar extending
from the bottom of the eye past the end of the maxilla,
followed by a wide pale area on cheek, bordered above
with a short wedge-shaped stripe from the rear edge
of the iris ending in a dark vertical bar along the
rim of the preopercle; rows of small brown dots, one
per scale, in three rows, uppermost along the lateral
line, middle along the lateral midline from behind
the opercle flap to mid-caudal peduncle, the third
parallel to the second, from behind the pectoral fin
to above the middle of the anal fin; a large dark
blotch on the distal membranes of the third and fourth
dorsal-fin spines; and a small dark-brown spot on
the body at the base of the last two branched dorsal-fin
rays. The combination of these color patterns distinguishes
Apogonichthyoides maculipinnis from other congeners,
in particular A. umbratilis and A. gardineri,
which share the dark mark on the first dorsal fin
and darkish bar-like marks on the body but lack the
numerous brown spots on the head and body.
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CITATION:
Fraser, T.H. (2018) Redescription
of the cardinalfish Apogonichthyoides maculipinnis
(Percomorpha: Apogonidae: Apogoninae) from the Maldives,
last collected 118 years ago. Journal of the Ocean
Science Foundation, 30, 100-104.
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1409246
publication date: 7 September
2018
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