Description

SINGLE PAPER

Volume 15, Issue 4 – 15 October 2009

Friedhelm Krupp, Uwe Zajonz, Maroof A. Khalaf: A new species of the deepwater cardinalfish genus Epigonus (Perciformes: Epigonidae) from the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea, pp. 223-227

Abstract
A new species of epigonid fish, Epigonus marisrubri, is described, based on two specimens (134 mm and 136 mm SL), which were collected over a reef area at a depth of 52 m at the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea, Jordan. The new species differs from its congeners by the following combination of characters: dorsal rays VII + I,10; anal rays II,9; pored lateral line scales 48 or 49; gill rakers 29 or 30; pyloric caeca 10; two pterygiophores between neural spines 9 and 10; pectoral fins long, reaching level of second dorsal-fin origin; tongue with a band of teeth on glossohyal; opercle with a short, poorly ossified spine and 1-2 spinelets; otolith (sagitta) oval, elongate, with smooth rims; sulcus and cristae weakly developed. This is the first record of the family Epigonidae from the Red Sea.