The first record of the deepwater anthiadid fish Odontanthias randalli (Perciformes) from Japan

Abstract

A single specimen (93.2 mm standard length) of the anthiadid fish, Odontanthias randalli White, 2011 previously known only from Lombok, Indonesia, Mindanao, Philippines and southern Taiwan, was recently collected from southern Kii Peninsula, Japan. This specimen is the first record of the species from Japan and now the most northernly record. Odontanthias randalli differs from its congeners by having a dorsal fin with 10 spines and 16–17 soft rays, 37–39 lateral-line scales, third dorsal spine elongate, third dorsal-fin soft ray produced as a long filament; caudal fin lunate with extremely long filamentous lobes, body depth 2.2–2.5 in standard length; vomerine tooth patch arrowhead shaped; body pinkish laterally with orange fringed bright yellow spots, four pale pinkish oval blotches below dorsal-fin base. The new standard Japanese name “Embi-sakuradai” is proposed here for this species. The present specimen was collected by hook and line from a hard substrate area at a depth of 130 m and is sympatric with Odontanthias borbonius (Valenciennes, 1828), Odontanthias katayamai (Randall, Maugé and Plessis, 1979) and Odontanthias unimaculatus (Tanaka, 1917). From this, O. randalli may prefer similar habitats to those congeneric species. Recently, the phenomenon of biofluorescence in fishes has attracted attention, such fluorescence being reported for, O. katayamai. The present study shows the fluorescent pattern of O. randalli.