Cocotropus hongkongiensis, a New Species of the Aploactidae from Hong Kong

抄録

Cocotropus KAUP, 1858, is a small genus of considerably uncommon shore fishes of the Indo-Pacific. As far as is known, no attempt has ever been made to revise its species systematically. According to MATSUBARA (1943b) in his study of the Japanese forms and DAY (1878-88) on the typical and Indian species, it is disting uished, among other characters, primarily by having stout and blunt spines to the preorbital and preopercle, and a ventral fin with one spine and three rays. Based on this diagnosis, a number of seven distinct species may be recognised from existing literature: C. echinatus (CANTOR) and C. roseus DAY from India; C. monacanthus (GILCHRIST) from east coast of South Africa; C. dermacanthus (BLEEKER) and C. obbesi WEBER from the Philippines; and C. masudai MATSUBARA and C. kagoshimensis MATSUBARA from Japan. In the present study an eighth species, C. hongkongiensis, is here proposed as new.