Search

We present a weight–length relation and use rapid and low-cost histological methods to generate preliminary reproductive parameters for Monotaxis grandoculis (Forsskål, 1775), based on specimens collected in Guam and Pohnpei [W = 0.033(FL)2.91]. We estimated female L50 at 30.0 cm FL and male L50 at 35.4 cm FL. The species is gonochoric. Overall and operational sex ratios were not significantly different from 1:1; however, among mature individuals, the proportion of females was an inverse function of length with no females > 33.5 cm FL but males to 44.5 cm FL. Batch fecundity was an exponential function of length but, because females were absent in the largest size classes, the highest per capita egg production was by individuals at 31.7 cm FL, only 71.2% of maximum observed specimen length. Boat-based creel surveys in Guam showed that the mean length of M. grandoculis in the catch decreased below both female and male L50 from 2010 to 2019, suggesting a significant decline in spawning stock biomass.

The Pseudoplagioporinae n. subf. (Opecoelidae) is proposed for species of Pseudoplagioporus Yamaguti, 1938, Fairfaxia Cribb, 1989, and Shimazuia Cribb, 2005, a small group of relatively distinctive, Indo-West Pacific taxa reliably known almost entirely from emperor fishes (Perciformes: Lethrinidae). These taxa were previously recognized in the Plagioporinae Manter, 1947, but that subfamily has recently been restricted to a clade of Holarctic, freshwater taxa, whereas analyses of new genetic data find the pseudoplagioporines to form a distinct clade among a larger assemblage of marine taxa. New material was sourced from fishes collected mainly in Queensland waters, Australia, but with some specimens from off Western Australia, the Northern Territory, and Japan. Orthodena tropica Durio & Manter, 1968 is transferred to Pseudoplagioporus as P. tropicus (Durio & Manter, 1968) n. comb., and Orthodena Durio & Manter, 1968 thus becomes a synonym of that genus. Three new species of Pseudoplagioporus are proposed. One, P. mediocris n. sp., like other species of Pseudoplagioporus, occurs in several species of Lethrinus. The other two new species, P. labiatus n. sp. and P. roseovulatus n. sp., apparently do not infect species of Lethrinus and were instead found only in the Bigeye emperor Monotaxis grandoculis (Forsskal) and the Redfin emperor M. heterodon (Bleeker), respectively. New host-locality combinations and the first genetic data, for the ribosomal ITS2 DNA region, and the 28S rRNA, 18S rRNA, and cox1 mtDNA genes, are reported for Pseudoplagioporus lethrini Yamaguti, 1938, P. interruptus Durio & Manter, 1968, P. tropicus, Fairfaxia lethrini Cribb, 1989, Fairfaxia cribbi Hassanine & Gibson, 2005, and Shimazuia lethrini (Yamaguti, 1938) Cribb, 2005.

Species of family Lethrinidae are of a great commercial importance in Egypt. Recent researches proved that we are far from having a full list of the family species diversity in Egypt. The purpose of this study was to clarify the phylogeny of commercial fish species of family Lethrinidae in the Egyptian Red Sea. Three commercial species of Lethrinidae (Lethrinus mahsena, Lethrinus nebulosus and Monotaxis grandoculis) were obtained from northern Red Sea proper. Samples were identified based on morphological characters. Identification was confirmed using DNA barcoding technique. DNA extraction was performed using Phenol-chloroform extraction method. In PCR, About 655 bp were amplified from the 5' region of the COI gene from mitochondrial DNA, then successful amplifications were sequenced. By Combining our sequence results with sequences of some species of Family Lethrinidae submitted to the GenBank, phylogenetic trees were constructed using p-distance Neighbor-Joining method. Results indicated that the use of DNA barcoding technique for emperor fish and big eye bream identification was successful, not only between different species of the family, but also within species, indicating the possible presence of cryptic species complex and the possible discovery of new genetic diversity. Of the three examined species from the Egyptian coasts; Monotaxis grandoculis showed the lowest genetic differences. Lethrinus mahsena showed the highest variations.

Monotaxis grandoculis (Forsskål in Niebuhr 1775) —Bigeye emperor Status at New Ireland. First recorded from Carteret Harbour, Lambom, New Ireland by Peters (1877: 834). Specimens observed by Jeff Kinch during CFMDP Survey at Kavieng fish market in 2004–2005, and by Barry C. Russell during 7–28 June 2014; others photographed at St. KVG18 (south side of Bauddisson Island, Kavieng District) by Serge Andréfouët on 18 Aug. 2014; a video of a specimen taken off Nubilus Island, off southeastern New Hanover, at 3–32 m depth, St. KR 88, in 2014 (identified by Barry C. Russell). Distribution and habitat. New Ireland: 1, 2, 3.—General distribution: Red Sea, East Africa, Madagascar and Mascarenes east to Hawaiian and Line islands and Pitcairn Group, north to southern Japan, south to Exmouth Gulf (Western Australia) and Queensland (Australia), New Caledonia, Tonga, Austral and Gambier islands. Found on sand and rubble areas near coral and rocky reefs, 1–60 m depth. Marine., Published as part of Andréfouët, Serge, Chen, Wei-Jen, Kinch, Jeff, Mana, Ralph, Russell, Barry C., Tully, Dean & White, William T., 2019, Checklist of the marine and estuarine fishes of New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea, western Pacific Ocean, with 810 new records, pp. 1-360 in Zootaxa 4588 (1) on page 173, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4588.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/2988163, {"references":["Peters, W. C. H. (1877) Ubersicht der wahrend der von 1874 bis 1876 unter der Commando des Hrn. Capitan z. S. Freiherrn von Schleinitz ausgefuhrten Reise S. M. S. Gazelle gesammelten und von der Kaiserlichen Admiralitat der Koniglichen Akademie der Wissenschaften ubersandten Fische. Monatsberichte der Koniglichen Preuss [ischen] Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, 1876, 831 - 854."]}

The Palau archipelago is a sizeable and geologically diverse set of volcanic and coralline limestone islands in equatorial western Micronesia. Recent archeological fieldwork, pollen analyses, and radiocarbon assays have expanded our understanding of more than 3000 years of culture history in Palau, providing a potentially unique window on the relationship between climate, environment, human adaptation, and culture change in the tropical western Pacific. Our focus is on the period of AD 1200–1600, particularly as relates to the transition between the Medieval Warm Period and the onset of the Little Ice Age. This period encompasses the establishment of stonework villages throughout the archipelago, and ultimately their abandonment in the limestone islands. Paleoenvironmental and archeological data, including settlement pattern analyses, provide mixed but intriguing messages regarding the role of climate in Palauan culture change. Archeological deposits in Uchularois Cave contain domestic pig, Sus scrofa , large-eyed bream, Monotaxis grandoculis , parrotfish, Scarus sp., and the humped conch, Strombus gibberulus gibbosus , that together provide evidence of environmental degradation or overharvesting and the potential effects of climate change on culture. Our data suggest that a greater emphasis on high-resolution data is necessary to properly evaluate the role of climate in Pacific island culture change.

Spirocamallanus monotaxis is redescribed from Monotaxis grandoculis (Lethrinidae) and reported from 10 other species of coral reef associated fishes from both the Society Islands and the Tuamotu Islands. This represents a new locality for S. monotaxis and 10 new host records. Spirocamallanus colei n.sp. is described from Acanthurus achilles (Acanthuridae) and from Acanthurus guttatus, Acanthurus lineatus, Acanthurus triostegus, and Zebrasoma scopas from both the Society Islands and the Tuamotu Islands. Spirocamallanus chaimha n.sp. is described from Ctenochaetus striatus and Acanthurus olivaceous (Acanthuridae) from Moorea in the Society Islands. The number of buccal capsule ridges in Spirocamallanus varies and minor differences have no taxonomic importance. Marine Spirocamallanus species appear to belong to a single clade characterized by 3 preanal papillae and 5 postanal papillae. This clade may be subdivided on the basis of the shape of the female tail. In French Polynesia, ecological factors as opposed to phylogenetic factors appear to determine host specificity for Spirocamallanus. A new system of reporting the positions of the caudal papillae, based on the position of the papillae relative to the length of the alae, is used.

Three new species of Lamellodiscus are described from four (including two undescribed) species of Gymnocranius off New Caledonia, South Pacific. All three species have a similar body anatomy and morphology of the haptoral hard parts and are distinguished on the basis of the male copulatory organ (MCO). Lamellodiscus tubulicornis n. sp. (type-host: G. grandoculis; other host: Gymnocranius sp. B) has an MCO with a tube and horn; L. magnicornis n. sp. (type-host: G. grandoculis; other hosts: G. euanus, Gymnocranius sp. A and Gymnocranius sp. B) has an MCO with a long horn and a membrane; L. parvicornis n. sp. (type-host: G. euanus; other hosts: G. grandoculis and Gymnocranius sp. B) has an MCO with a small horn and a membrane. Lamellodiscus epsilon Yamaguti, 1968 is redescribed based on the type-specimens (from Monotaxis grandoculis off Hawaii). Lamellodiscus sp. is recorded from Gnathodentex aureolineatus off New Caledonia. All these five species have lamellodiscs that exhibit a unique characteristic: the second lamella forms an almost closed circle, in contrast to all other described species of Lamellodiscus in which the second lamella has the form of one or two crescents. Lamellodiscus spp. are usually classified in two groups, the ‘ignoratus’ and ‘elegans’ groups, according to the structure of the lamellodisc; we propose a new ‘tubulicornis’ group for these five species. In addition to their lamellodisc structure, species of the tubulicornis group are also characterised by their egg (elongate in contrast to tetrahedral in the two other groups) and their hosts (monotaxine lethrinids as opposed to mainly sparids). The generic diagnosis of Lamellodiscus given by Amine & Euzet (2005) is amended to include species with elongate eggs.

In 1995, in collaboration with local Bedouin fishermen, five no-take fisheries reserves were established within the Nabq Natural Resource Protected Area, South Sinai, Egyptian Red Sea. The abundance, size structure and catch of commercially targeted groupers (Serranidae), emperors (Lethrinidae) and snappers (Lutjanidae) were investigated before the establishment of these reserves, then in 1997 and again in 2000. By 1997, these fish had shown a significant increase in mean abundance within two of the no-take reserves. By 2000 each family and three individual species (Lethrinus obsoletus, Cephalopholis argus and Variola louti) had increased in abundance in the reserves. There were significant increases in mean individual length of the serranids Epinephelus fasciatus and C. argus and of the lethrinids L. nebulosus and Monotaxis grandoculis. Meanwhile, mean recorded catch per unit effort (CPUE) within the adjacent fished areas increased by about two-thirds (P