A new species of the jawfish genus Opistognathus from Taiwan, northwestern Pacific Ocean (Perciformes, Opistognathidae).

Abstract

A new species of jawfish genus Opistognathus is described based on a specimen collected from a beach in the Peng-hu Islands during a cold snap. The new species, Opistognathuscryos sp. nov., differs from its congeners in having a rigid upper jaw, 10-11 + 1 + 19-22 = 31-33 gill rakers, 55 scale rows in lateral series, 10 + 16 = 26 vertebrae, the terminus of the lateral line at the base of the fourth segmented dorsal-fin ray (15^th in total rays), the head, nape, dorsal-fin base above lateral line, throat, chest, and pectoral-fin base naked, dorsal fin with eight blotches along its entire base, body with five horizontal dark stripes, nape with two dark blotches in front of the dorsal-fin origin, and a caudal fin with five narrow, dark bands. A detailed description is provided and compared to its similar congeners.