The Bluespotted Hind Cephalopholis cyanostigma (Perciformes: Serranidae) from the Southern Ryukyu Islands: First Specimen-based Records from Japan

Abstract

During the past three decades, ten specimens (174.1–235.1 mm standard length) of the Bluespotted Hind Cephalopholis cyanostigma (Valenciennes in Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1828), distributed in the eastern Indian and western Pacific oceans, have been collected from the southern Ryukyu Islands, Japan, although the species has been formally recorded from Japanese waters only on the basis of a single photograph, with the northernmost specimen-based record being Taiwan. The Ryukyu Island specimens, described here in detail, represent the first specimen-based records of C. cyanostigma from Japan, in addition to the northernmost record of the species. The new standard Japanese name “Samidare-hata” is proposed for the species.