First Northwestern Pacific Record of the Batfish Solocisquama erythrina (Actinopterygii: Ogcocephalidae) from Minamidaito Island, Southern Japan

抄録

A single specimen of the rare batfish Solocisquama erythrina (Gilbert, 1905) was collected from a steep rocky seafloor off Minamidaito Island, southern Japan. The species is characterized by a bulging triangular disk and cylindrical tail, entirely covered by tubercular scales, each with a single multicuspid spine. The species had been considered as a Hawaiian endemic. However, the specimen from the Daito Islands represents the first record of S. erythrina from the northwestern Pacific region, including Japanese waters, and is further evidence of a commonality of the deep-sea fish fauna between oceanic islands in the central and western Pacific regions.