Distributional Range Extension of the Pale Ornate Jobfish Pristipomoides amoenus (Teleostei: Perciformes: Lutjanidae) in the Western Pacific Ocean, with Notes on Newly Recognized Diagnostic Coloration

Abstract

Seven specimens (149.0–221.2 mm standard length) of Pristipomoides amoenus (Snyder, 1911), previously known only from Okinawa-jima and Ishigaki-jima islands, southern Ryukyu Islands, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, were collected from other regions of Japan (Amami-oshima island, Amami Islands, Kagoshima Prefecture), Taiwan (Dong-gang, Pingtung), the Philippines (Iloilo, Panay Island), and Fiji (Viti Levu Island), thereby representing the first records of the species from outside Okinawa Prefecture. The Amami-oshima and Fijian specimens also represent the northernmost and first Southern Hemisphere records, respectively, for the species. Comparison of these plus newly collected specimens from the southern Ryukyu Islands (herein described in detail) with the closely related species Pristipomoides argyrogrammicus (Valenciennes in Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1832) revealed the following hitherto unrecognized diagnostic color features of P. amoenus: a few small silvery-blue blotches present inside yellow saddles on dorsum; small silvery-blue blotches below trunk lateral line absent or indistinct; a distinct line (formed by small silvery-blue blotches) absent on lower caudal peduncle; a large silvery-blue blotch present on upper opercle, extending anteriorly beyond preopercular margin; a line formed by small silvery-blue blotches on upper caudal peduncle ending at upper caudal-fin base; a pair of lines formed by small silvery-blue blotches along dorsal-fin base (dorsal view); a larger pair of elliptical silvery-blue blotches on occipital region (all silvery-blue blotches retained as dark-brown blotches after preservation). Pristipomoides argyrogrammicus is newly recorded from the Tokara Islands, northern Ryukyu Islands, Japan.