Koumansetta rainfordi Whitley 1940

Koumansetta rainfordi Whitley 1940

Old Glory

Fig. 6

Koumansetta rainfordi Whitley 1940: 426 (type locality: Australia, Queensland, Whitsunday Group, Hayman Island; holotype: AMS IA.2029)— Allen & Adrim 2003: 59 (Indonesia, listed); Randall et al. 2004: 28 (Tonga, listed); Randall 2005: 541 (South Pacific, description, photograph from Papua New Guinea); Shao et al. 2008: 262 (southern Taiwan, listed); Fricke et al. 2011 (New Caledonia, listed); Allen & Erdmann 2012: 982 (East Indies, description, photo from West Papua); Fricke et al. 2014: 168 (Papua New Guinea, listed).

Amblygobius rainfordi — Randall et al. 1997: 394 (Great Barrier Reef, description); Myers 1999: 242 (Palau, Marshall Islands, description); Randall & Lim 2000: 635 (South China Sea, listed); Hutchins 2001: 42 (Western Australia; listed); Larson & Murdy 2001: 3595 (western Pacific, listed); Kuiter & Tonozuka 2004: 338 (Bali and Flores, photos); Seeto & Baldwin 2010: 52 (Fiji, listed).

Diagnosis. Dorsal-fin rays VI + I,15–17; anal-fin rays I,15–17; pectoral-fin rays 16–18; longitudinal scale series 55–61; scales in transverse series 17–19; interorbital wide, 75–100 % of eye diameter*; rear margin of upper jaw ending at vertical through anterior margin of eye or slightly behind*; first two dorsal-fin spines filiform, elongate*, remaining progressively shorter; scales ctenoid posteriorly, becoming cycloid anteriorly between first dorsal fin and pectoral fin, at axil of pectoral fin, on nape and entire belly; predorsal scales 24–26 (published data: 24, studied material: 24–26); scales not reaching to the level of the posterior edge of the eye on predorsal area, ending at the level of pore G; cheek naked*, opercle naked, in some specimens with a few cycloid scales in upper part; scales cover the basal 1/4–1/6 of the caudal fin, becoming rapidly smaller and cycloid; prepectoral area with about 5–9 vertical series of fine cycloid scales covering the entire base of the pectoral fin; prepelvic area with cycloid scales, 11–16 in the midventral row.

Color in life (Fig. 6). Body grey to brownish or greenish grey, upper half of head and predorsal area pale yellowish green, lower head olive. Head with a short, middorsal, orange to reddish stripe on interorbital area broken into 2–3 segments, other six narrow orange stripes on each side of head and body, the second to fourth and those along anal-fin base are dark-edged and the edge is again bordered by a thin bright green margin; first stripe extending from top of snout along upper side of nape and nearly reaching the vertical through origin of first dorsal fin; second stripe beginning from posterior nostril across inner surface of orbit and ending below origin of first dorsal fin where continuing as longitudinal row of spots to below sixth-eights soft ray; third stripe on left and right side of body with U-shape connection at the front of snout and continuing across eye backwards to below rear base of dorsal fin; fourth stripe extending from upper lip across cheek, opercle and upper third of pectoral-fin base and running along midlateral of body to posterior part of caudal peduncle; fifth stripe extending from chin across lower opercle and lower third of pectoral-fin base and running along ventral side of body to lower part of caudal-fin base where it meets with curved orange bar on caudal-fin base; sixth stripe beginning from chin and continuing along ventral side of abdomen and along anal-fin base. Back with series of 5–7 white spots of variable size. Black spot larger than pupil dorsally at posterior end of caudal peduncle, rimmed below in white. Bases of both dorsal fins with black-edged orange stripe, another indistinct red-orange stripe above basal stripe. Second dorsal fin with white margin and indistinct red-orange submarginal stripe, and with yellow-edged black spot on outer half in the middle of fin, the spot varying individually in size. Anal-fin membranes pale grey anteriorly shading darker posteriorly, margin of fin narrowly bluish white. Caudal fin with curved white bar at base, rest of fin with transparent membranes and pale grey rays. Pectoral and pelvic fins with translucent membranes.

Distribution and habitat. Reported from the Western and eastern Australia (Queensland) throughout Indonesia and Papua New Guinea east to Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands, Fiji, and Tonga, north to the Taiwan and the Philippines. Occurs on rich-growth coral reefs at depths of 2–30 m; darts into corals when alarmed.

Remarks. Diagnosis represents the sum of published data (Whitley 1940; Randall 2005, Allen & Erdmann 2012 and the data from the examined comparative material). Some data therefore represent extended ranges based on the published data and the material examined: dorsal-fin rays VI + I,15–17 (published data: 15–16, studied material: 15–17); anal-fin rays I,15–17 (published data: 15–16, studied material: 15–17); longitudinal scale series 55–61 (published data: 55–60, studied material: 57–61); scales in transverse series 17–19 (published data: 19, studied material: 17–18). Where the data observed for the studied material obviously differed from the original description in Whitley (1940), only the observed characters where included in the diagnosis and marked with *. The differences could be caused by differences in the methods applied or by the lower quality of stereomicroscope used for original description compared to modern techniques that were helped by staining. Despite these differences, there is no need for urgent redescription of the species considering the small number of described species in the genus and enough differential characters that are present in both, the original description and studied material, to positively identify this species among congeners.

Kuiter & Tonozuka (2004) reproduced two underwater photographs taken from Menjangan Island, Bali, of individuals similar to K. rainfordi but differ in detail of coloration. Probably gobies from this locality represent an undescribed species but specimens are needed for study.