Two specimens (227.8–251.7 mm standard length) of the rare grouper Cephalopholis polleni (Bleeker, 1868) were collected off Okinawa-jima and Ishigaki-jima islands, Ryukyu Islands, the species having previously been known from scattered insular localities in the Indo-Pacific Ocean, including the Ryukyu Islands between the Amami and Yaeyama Islands. Although a single specimen of C. polleni had been previously obtained from a fish market in Naha, Okinawa-jima Island, its capture locality was unknown and the specimen is now apparently lost. All other Japanese records of the species were based solely on photographs. Accordingly, the present specimens of C. polleni, described here in detail, from Okinawa-jima and Ishigaki-jima islands represent important specimen-based records of the species from Japan, being the first with precise locality data. A review of previous distribution records of C. polleni from Japanese waters is also provided.
