Biogeographic and taxonomic notes regarding the diversity of fish in the Sea of Japan

Abstract

More than 1,300 species of fishes have been reported from the Japanese side of the Sea of Japan. However, occurrence records for a great number of these species are not documented by voucher specimens, rendering estimates of the diversity of fishes from this region unclear as to their reliability. Given this situation, ichthyologists at the Maizuru Fisheries Research Station of Kyoto University are central to a research group aiming to provide a more reliable estimate of the diversity of the fish fauna of this region that is based on a reproducible data such as voucher specimens. Here we provide some biogeographic (24 species) and taxonomic (2 species) notes as a preliminary report towards this goal. As a result of new biogeographical findings, 10 species are confirmed from this region for the first time, and the distributional ranges of 14 other species are extended to the east. Most of these 24 species are not residents in the Sea of Japan, rather they are migratory species likely to have drifted from the southward via the Tsushima Warm Current. An unidentified congrid species, Ariosoma sp. and an undescribed cynoglossid species, Symphurus sp., were collected off Kyoto Prefecture. Exact identification of the former species, and a description and formal naming for the latter species, will be the subject of studies conducted in the near future.