Taxonomic characterization of five species of emperor fishes (Actinopterygii: Eupercaria: Lethrinidae) based on external morphology, morphometry, and geographic distribution in the northwestern Indian Ocean
Species of the genus Lethrinus , commonly referred to as emperor fishes, mainly distributed in the Indo–West Pacific, including the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman are poorly known. It is difficult to characterize them morphologically, as there are no distinguishing meristic features for the majority...
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Published in | Acta ichthyologica et piscatoria Vol. 54; no. 3; pp. 115 - 124 |
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Main Authors | , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Szczecin
Pensoft Publishers
20.05.2024
West Pomeranian University of Technology |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Species of the genus
Lethrinus
, commonly referred to as emperor fishes, mainly distributed in the Indo–West Pacific, including the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman are poorly known. It is difficult to characterize them morphologically, as there are no distinguishing meristic features for the majority of species. We studied the morphological features of 65 specimens representing the genus
Lethrinus
to define and identify the species involved. Among the morphological characters commonly considered in this type of study, we also included new, previously undescribed characters. The results of Tukey’s post hoc HSD test for metric and meristic variables, which showed significant differences between species in ANOVA, indicate that most metric traits and the number of scale rows above the lateral line differ significantly among the five morphotypes distinguished. Principal component analysis (PCA) and discriminant function analysis (DFA) effectively showed the morphometric variation between these morphotypes. The characteristics of body depth, head length, pectoral fin length, and caudal fin length are the most distinguishing diagnostic at the species level. We determined that the collected fish specimens represented:
Lethrinus borbonicus
Valenciennes, 1830,
Lethrinus crocineus
Smith, 1959,
Lethrinus lentjan
(Lacepède, 1802),
Lethrinus microdon
Valenciennes, 1830, and
Lethrinus nebulosus
(Forsskål, 1775). We also confirmed their validity as distinct species. Notably,
L. crocineus
, previously known only from the western Indian Ocean (Africa and Socotra), is now reported for the first time from the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Lastly, a distribution map for the
Lethrinus
species is included. |
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ISSN: | 0137-1592 1734-1515 |
DOI: | 10.3897/aiep.54.118586 |