A specimen of Lined Butterflyfish (Teleostei: Perciformes; Chaetodontidae) collected in 1932 from Fukushima, northern Japan, the northernmost record of the species

Abstract

A single adult specimen (205.1 mm standard length) of Lined Butterflyfish, Chaetodon lineolatus Cuvier, 1831, collected in 1932 from Onahama, Fukushima Prefecture, northern Japan, was discovered in the fish collection of the Department of Zoology, the University Museum, the University of Tokyo. The previous northernmost Japanese record of the species being the Boso Peninsula, Chiba Prefecture, most records from southern Japan have been of juveniles. Accordingly, the present specimen represents the first record of the species from the cold-water area off northern Japan (northernmost record of the species), and indicates that at least limited dispersal of tropical fishes to northern Japan occurred in the 1930’s, when water temperatures were estimated to have been almost 2˚C lower than in recent years.