New, Rare or Uncommon Fishes from Japanese Waters. VIII. A Record of Rhamphocottus richardsoni

Abstract

On December 2, 1962, while fishing with hook and line with his father, Mr. Teruo YAMAMICHI found a singular red small fish in the mouth of a rockfish, Sebastes oblongus GÜNTHER, and sent the unusual fish to the present writer for study through courtesy of his teacher at Kadonohama Junior High School by the name of Mr. Magojirô SOTOKAWA and Mr. S_ATô, Hachinoe Branch Station, Tôhoku Fisheries Research Laboratory. The rockfish was taken 4km. off Kadonohama, Taneichi Machi, Iwate Prefecture, at a depth of 40m. The specimen received has been dried up, and is not in a good state, but certainly represents a species of Rhamphocottus which is believed not to have been recorded from the western part of the North Pacific. This genus has been placed either in the family Rhamphocottidae or in the large family of Cottidae. The present specimen, though somewhat different from the specimens previously reported upon from the eastern side of the North Pacific or from Alaska, is here tentatively identified as Rhamphocottus richardsoni GÜNTHER. The writer wishes to express here his sincere thanks to Messrs. YAMAMICHI, SOTOKAWA and S_ATÔ for their cooperation in getting the specimen of an additional species of fish to the Japanese fauna, and to Mr. Yoshiaki TOMINAGA for the trouble of taking a radiograph of the specimen.