Records of the Barracuda Sphyraena qenie from Japan, with Notes on the Taxonomic Status of Sphyraena nigripinnis (Teleostei: Sphyraenidae)

Abstract

Two specimens (174.0 and 567.7 mm standard length) of the barracuda Sphyraena qenie Klunzinger, 1870, collected from Tanega-shima and Amami-oshima islands, northern Ryukyu Islands, Japan, represent the reliable Japanese records of the species, for which the new standard Japanese name “Tatsu-kamasu” is proposed. Sphyraena qenie is similar to Sphyraena jello Cuvier, 1829 and Sphyraena putnamae Jordan and Seale, 1905 in lacking gill rakers on the 1st gill arch, and having more than 120 lateral-line scales and indistinct dark bars on the body. Sphyraena qenie differs from S. jello in having a deeply forked caudal fin with a pair of small lobes on the posterior margin in adults (vs. moderately forked without lobes in S. jello), a blackish caudal fin (vs. yellowish), and 18–22 dark bars crossing the lateral line on the body (ca. 11 indistinct dark bands dorsolaterally in individuals smaller than 360 mm SL). Sphyraena qenie also differs from S. putnamae in caudal-fin shape and lateral body markings, the former having indistinct lobes in large adults (generally lacking distinct lobes on the posterior caudal fin) and having 18–22 dark bars crossing the lateral line on the body (ca. 15 dark chevron markings crossing the lateral line on the body). Although, S. qenie has been suspected to be a junior synonym of Sphyraena nigripinnis Temminck and Schlegel, 1843, original drawing of S. nigripinnis showed a moderately forked caudal fin with two large, well developed lobes which differ significantly from that of S. qenie. The holotype of S. nigripinnis, collected from Japan, has apparently been lost and due to no Indo-Pacific sphyraenid species clearly consistent with S. nigripinnis, the taxonomic status of S. nigripinnis still unclear.