Fresh coloration and hyperostotic variations in Pterygotrigla cajorarori Richards and Yato, 2012 (Triglidae)

Abstract

The original description of Pterygotrigla cajorarori Richards and Yato, 2012, based on eight specimens from the western Pacific Ocean, including one Japanese specimen, indicated hyperostosis in the rostral projection, head bones (infraorbital, frontal, and parietal), post temporal spine, humeral spine, and the 2nd–4th first dorsal-fin spines, although variations in these characters were poorly documented. Thirteen specimens (including two paratypes) of P. cajorarori collected from southern Japan, the South China Sea, and Indonesia were found to vary individually in the degree of hyperostosis in the rostral projection, mesethmoid, lateral ethmoid, frontal, sphenotic, pterotic, and infraorbital bones, whereas the condition was not prominent in the parietal and posttemporal bones, or the humeral spines. However, hyperostosis was newly found in the 5th and 6th dorsal-fin spines and pelvic-fin spine. A detailed description of fresh coloration (previously unknown) in P. cajorarori is also given.