Upeneus subvittatus (Temminck & Schlegel, 1843)

Silver goatfish

(Figs. 1–2; Table 1)

Upeneus subvittatus (Temminck & Schlegel, 1843); Snyder (1907); Boeseman 1947 (incorrect assignment of lectotype and paralectotype); Masuda et al. (1984); Golani (2001); Randall 2001 (in part); Uiblein & Heemstra (2010, 2011)

Diagnosis. Dorsal fins VIII + 9; pectoral fins 16–17; gill rakers 7–9 + 19–21 = 26–30; measurements in % SL: body depth at first dorsal-fin origin 25–28; body depth at anus 22–23; caudal-peduncle depth 9.2–10; maximum head depth 22–25; head depth through eye 18–20; head length 32–33; orbit length 7.8–8.8; upper jaw length 13–14; barbel length 19–24; caudal-fin length 26–29; anal-fin height 14–18; pelvic-fin length 17–19; pectoral-fin length 23–25; first dorsal-fin height 20–23; second dorsal-fin height 14–17; total number of oblique caudal-fin bars 7–10, colour of bars changing from pale brown proximally to brown towards rear caudal-fin margin; 4–6 bars on upper caudal-fin lobe (including one bar close to rear end of lateral line), white interspaces between bars slightly narrower than bars; 3–4 darker bars on lower caudal-fin lobe, of similar width as white interspaces between bars and becoming darker towards lobe tip; first dorsal-fin tip black; caudal-fin bars and black dorsal-fin tip retained on preserved fish; barbels white; no lateral body stripes; head and body silvery laterally and pale rose dorsally; belly and ventral side of peduncle white; preserved fish dorsally pale brown and ventrally pale, with ventral part of head covered by differently sized patches of white pigment below eye and on opercle.

Distribution. Western Indonesia to Japan

Comparisons (see also Table 1). Upeneus subvittatus differs from the most closely related and/or cooccurring species of the vittatus group as follows: from U. davidaromi in lesser head depth (maximum head depth 22–25 vs 24–27 % SL; head depth through eye 18–20 vs 20–24 %SL) and longer interdorsal distance (14–18 vs 13–15 %SL); from U. mascareinsis in deeper body (body depth at first dorsal-fin origin 25–28 vs 21–26 %SL; body depth at anal-fin origin 22–23 vs 18–21 %SL), deeper caudal peduncle (caudal-peduncle depth 9.2–10 vs 8.1–9.3 %SL), longer pectoral fins (pectoral-fin length 23–25 vs 21–24 %SL), and less gill rakers (26–28 vs 27–30 total gill rakers); and from U. vittatus by a longer head (head length 32–33 vs 29–32 %SL), longer jaws (upper-jaw length 13–14 vs 11–13; lower-jaw length 13–14 vs 11–12 %SL), lesser first dorsal-fin height (20–23 vs 22–28 %SL), slightly fewer gill rakers (26–28 vs 27–29 total gill rakers), lower caudal-fin bars and white interspaces not varying in width, and lateral body stripes absent. For comparisons with U. stenopsis sp. n. see the account for this species above.

Remarks. While Temminck and Schlegel (1843) did not designate types in their description of Upeneus subvittatus, the type material designated by Boeseman (1947) agrees neither with the original description nor with the diagnosis provided here. After examination of the two lectotypes we agree with Golani (2001) that they belong most probably to U. sulphureus.

The geographic distribution of U. subvittatus between Japan and western Indonesia seems clearly distinct from the occurrence of U. mascareinsis, the latter being restricted to the Western Indian Ocean proper. One specimen from the Eastern Indian Ocean previously identified as U. mascareinsis (BMNH 1986.10.1.38) by Uiblein and Heemstra (2010) was here reassigned to U. subvittatus, as it falls clearly into the latter taxon based on the combination of three diagnostic characters: number of gill rakers on lower limb, body depth at anal-fin origin, and caudal-peduncle depth (Table 1, Fig. 2). No detailed locality information is available from this station deriving from the Jetindofish cruise (Lohmeyer 1982) which was carried out close to the western Indonesian Islands and hence in vicinity of the two U. subvittatus specimens from Java (CSIRO-PB389).

Uiblein and Heemstra (2010) indicated possible colour variations based on inspection of various photographs of fresh specimens of U. subvittatus from Japan and Indonesia. There are also rather different common names used in the different areas, such as “silver goatfish” in Indonesia (applied here) and “deep-water goatfish” in Japan (see www.fishbase.com). The latter name implies occurrence at deeper depths, but does not agree with the currently available bathymetric data that indicates a depth range of 26 m to a maximum of 120 m, while the three species specified here as deep-water goatfishes occur between 73 and 550 m and mostly between 100 and 400 m depth (Fourmanoir & Guézé 1967; Golani 2001; Uiblein & Heemstra 2010; present study).

Upeneus subvittatus attains 24 cm SL.