Revision of the Indo-Pacific Holocentrid Fishes of the Genus Myripristis, with Descriptions of Three New Species

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Twenty-two species of the holocentrid fish genus Myripristis are recognized for the Indo-Pacific region. The following 9 species are wide-ranging from islands of the Central Pacific to the western Indian Ocean: M. adusta Bleeker; M. berndti Jordan and Evermann (also occurs in the tropical eastern Pacific); M. chryseres Jordan and Evermann (usually found in more than 30 m); M. hexagona (Lacepède) (unusual in having high gill-raker counts in the eastern part of its range and lowest in the western); M. kuntee Valenciennes; M. murdjan (Forsskål) (one of 2 species known from the Red Sea); M. pralinia Cuvier; M. violacea Bleeker; and M. vittata Cuvier. M. amaena (Castelnau) and M. woodsi Greenfield are restricted to islands of Oceania. M. aulacodes, new species, is described from a single specimen from Lombok, Indonesia, distinctive in narrow deep mucous channels dorsally on the head, 10 + 22 gill rakers, and silvery and red coloration. M. botche Cuvier (M. melanosticta Bleeker is a junior synonym) ranges from the western Pacific to East Africa. M. formosa, described as new from 2 specimens from Taiwan, has a deep body (depth 2.1-2.2 in SL) and 10-11 + 22-23 gill rakers; M. kochiensis Randall and Yamakawa and M. greenfieldi Randall and Yamakawa are endemic to southern Japan; M. randalli Greenfield, reported only from Pitcairn Island, Austral Islands, and Tonga, appears to be one of a pair of related antitropical species (the other, M. kochiensis); M. robusta, described as new from 4 specimens from the Philippines and Papua New Guinea, is distinct in its deep body (depth 2.1-2.15 in SL), lowest number of gill rakers (10 + 20-22), and black peritoneum (shared only with M. botche); M. seychellensis Valenciennes is known only from islands of the western Indian Ocean; M. tiki Greenfield is recorded from Easter Island, Pitcairn Group, and Rapa; M. trachyacron Bleeker, the smallest species of the genus (largest 123 mm SL) appears to be confined to the Indo-Malayan region; and M. xanthacra Randall and Guézé, a close relative of M. hexagona, is endemic to the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Myripristis humilus Kner and Steindachner, 1867 from Samoa and M. carneus Ramsay and Ogilby, 1886 from the Admiralty Islands are synonyms of Plectrypops lima (Valenciennes, 1831).

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