2019 Volume 24 Issue 1 Pages 17-22
A single specimen of the platycephalid fish Thysanophrys papillaris Imamura and Knapp, 1999, collected from Nha Trang, Vietnam, represents the first record of the species from the western Pacific, previous records having been restricted to the Indian Ocean (Timor, Arafura and Andaman seas). Thysanophrys papillaris is separable from other members of the genus in having 11 second dorsal-fin rays, 12 anal-fin rays, 58–75 oblique body scale rows slanting downward and forward below the lateral line, the snout longer than the orbital diameter (ratio of snout length/orbital diameter 1.1–1.3), a single (rarely 2) small papillae on the upper eye surface, the upper iris lappet with short branches, 1 preorbital spine and 3–5 suborbital spines (usually 4). Thysanophrys haploblepharis Prokofiev, 2017, recently described from the western Indian Ocean, is regarded as a junior synonym of Suggrundus cooperi (Regan, 1908), also known from the western Indian Ocean.
