Paralepis coregonoides Risso 1820

Paralepis coregonoides Risso, 1820

Paralepis coregonoides Risso, 1820:253 (type locality: Nice, France, northwestern Mediterranean Sea). Post, 1987:116.

Specimen examined. MNHN 2001-2742, 221 mm SL, Mediterranean Sea, Villefranche /mer, France, Dec. 1970, coll. Inconnu.

Description. Dorsal-fin rays 9; pectoral-fin rays 16; anal-fin rays 23; pelvic-fin rays 9. Lateral-line scales: prepelvic 30 (31 on left side); predorsal 32 (32); preanal 47 (48); total 57 (58); transverse scales rows below lateral line ca. 10. Vertebrae: prehaemal 33; caudal 37; predorsal 31; prepelvic 33; preanal 47; total 70.

Bode moderately slender, compressed. Head robust, deeper than the rest part of body, head length 4.0 in SL. Interorbital space flattened, with a low straight ridge on each side extending from near tip of snout to dorsal surface of skull. Snout moderate long, stout, bluntly pointed at tip. Eye large, 2.9 in snout length. Two nostrils closed together, slightly less than one eye diameter before the eye, right above tip of maxilla. Mouth gape extending to slightly behind middle of snout (clearly before nostrils). Caudal peduncle slightly longer than eye diameter.

Pectoral fin moderately long, the uppermost ray slightly lower than lower level of eye. Origins of dorsal and pelvic fins clearly behind middle of the fish. Origin of pelvic fin below anterior third of dorsal-fin base. Anus well behind posterior tip of appressed dorsal and pelvic fins. Adipose fin with short base, much smaller than eye diameter, about two fin bases before the caudal-fin base.

Scales small, cycloid. Estimated 10 rows between lateral line and ventral margin. Lateral-line scales enlarged, slightly higher than wide. Lateral-line runs to near the end of anal-fin base. Three scale rows between lateral line and dorsal fin base.

No trace of teeth on jaws, palatines and gill arches; two large patches of rudimentary teeth on pharyngeal arches.

Remarks. The identification based on the collecting site, slender snout, nostrils right above tip of maxilla, pelvic-fin origin below anterior third of dorsal-fin base, and 33 prehaemal and 70 total vertebrae (Post, 1987: 110; in Key).

Post (1987) mentioned there are 25 specimens collected from American continental slope (about 33°N, 76°W), the western Atlantic Ocean. Our specimen is the first record of the adult Paralepis coregonoides with loss of gill rakers and teeth.