Hostname: page-component-54dcc4c588-2bdfx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-09-28T13:55:42.652Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Discovery of Epigonus bispinosus Okamoto & Gon, 2018 (Teleostei: Epigonidae) from the Arabian Sea: expanding its geographical distribution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 June 2025

Nitin K. Suyani ,
Ahamed Rasheeq ,
Bincy M. Raj ,
E. R. Sangamithra ,
A. Kathirvelpandian Open the ORCID record for A. Kathirvelpandian [Opens in a new window]  and
T. T. Ajith Kumar
Nitin K. Suyani*
Affiliation:
Centre for Peninsular Aquatic Genetic Resources, ICAR – National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
Ahamed Rasheeq
Affiliation:
Centre for Peninsular Aquatic Genetic Resources, ICAR – National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
Bincy M. Raj
Affiliation:
Centre for Peninsular Aquatic Genetic Resources, ICAR – National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
E. R. Sangamithra
Affiliation:
Centre for Peninsular Aquatic Genetic Resources, ICAR – National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
A. Kathirvelpandian
Affiliation:
Centre for Peninsular Aquatic Genetic Resources, ICAR – National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
T. T. Ajith Kumar
Affiliation:
Centre for Peninsular Aquatic Genetic Resources, ICAR – National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
*
Corresponding author: A. Kathirvelpandian; Email: kathirars@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The two-spined deepwater cardinalfish, Epigonus bispinosus Okamoto & Gon 2018 is documented for the first time from the Arabian Sea (n= 2) (137.4–151.1 mm SL). The specimens were caught by a demersal shrimp trawl operated along the Kerala coast at a depth of 250–420 m. This species was previously recorded in South Africa and northern Madagascar regions. The present study also provides the first molecular information on E. bispinosus based on mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I and 16S ribosomal RNA genes. Detailed taxonomic identification, and molecular and phylogenetic analysis are described.

Keywords

Arabian Seadeepwater cardinalfishEpigonidaemolecular analysisnew distributional record

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 105 , 2025 , e68
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Abramov, AA (1992) Species composition and distribution of Epigonus (Epigonidae) in the world ocean. Journal of Ichthyology 32, 94–108.Google Scholar
Fricke, R and Couperus, B (2024) Microichthys grandis, a new species of deepwater cardinalfish from off Ireland, northeastern Atlantic Ocean (Teleostei: Epigonidae). Ichthyological Research 71, 40–47.10.1007/s10228-023-00909-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gon, O (1985) Two new species of the deep-sea cardinalfish genus Epigonus (Perciformes, Apogonidae) from the Hawaiian Islands, with a key to the Hawaiian species. Pacific Science 39, 221–228.Google Scholar
Hall, TA (1999) BioEdit: A user-friendly biological sequence alignment editor and analysis program for Windows 95/98/NT. Nucleic Acids Symposium Series 41, 95–98.Google Scholar
Idrees Babu, KK and Akhilesh, KV (2020) Epigonus indicus, a new species of deepwater cardinalfish (Perciformes: Epigonidae) from the Indian Ocean. Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation 36, 1–8.Google Scholar
Krupp, F, Zajonz, U and Khalaf, MA (2009) A new species of the deepwater cardinalfish genus Epigonus (Perciformes: Epigonidae) from the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea. Aqua, International Journal of Ichthyology 15, 223–227.Google Scholar
Mayer, GF (1974) A revision of the cardinalfish genus Epigonus (Perciformes, Apogonidae), with descriptions of two new species. Bulletin Museum of Comparative Zoology 146, 147–203.Google Scholar
Okamoto, M (2011) A new species of deepwater cardinalfish, Epigonus mayeri, from the eastern Central Atlantic, and redescription of Epigonus heracleus Parin and Abramov 1986 (Perciformes: Epigonidae). Ichthyological Research 58, 101–108.10.1007/s10228-010-0195-xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Okamoto, M (2012) Two new species of the genus Epigonus (Perciformes: Epigonidae) from the South Pacific, with a definition of the Epigonus constanciae group. Ichthyological Research 59, 242–254.10.1007/s10228-012-0284-0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Okamoto, M (2015) Epigonus draco, a new species of deepwater cardinalfish (Perciformes: Epigonidae) from the western Pacific. Species Diversity 20, 121–127.10.12782/sd.20.2.121CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Okamoto, M (2018) First records of two deepwater cardinalfishes (Perciformes: Epigonidae), Epigonus lifouensis and E. pectinifer, from Indonesia, eastern Indian Ocean. Species Diversity 23, 243–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Okamoto, M, Baldwin, CC and Long, DJ (2024) Two new species of the deepwater cardinalfish genus Epigonus (Epigonidae) from deep reefs off Curacao, southern Caribbean. Ichthyological Research 71, 432–441.10.1007/s10228-024-00948-2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Okamoto, M, Chen, WJ and Shinohara, G (2018) Epigonus okamotoi (Perciformes: Epigonidae), a junior synonym of E. draco, with new distributional records for E. atherinoides and E. lifouensis in the West Pacific. Zootaxa 4476, 141–150.10.11646/zootaxa.4476.1.13CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Okamoto, M and Gon, O (2018) A review of the deepwater cardinalfish genus Epigonus (Perciformes: Epigonidae) of the Western Indian Ocean, with description of two new species. Zootaxa 4382, 261–291.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Okamoto, M, Long, DJ, Claro, R and McCosker, JE (2025) A new species of epigonid fish genus Epigonus (Teleostei: Epigonidae) from Cuba and the first records of E. fragilis from the western South Pacific and Taiwan. Ichthyological Research. doi:10.1007/s10228-025-01016-zCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Okamoto, M and Miyamoto, K (2022) First record of the epigonid fish Epigonus elongatus off the coast of Okinawa Island, Japan. Japanese Journal of Ichthyology 69, 43–50.Google Scholar
Okamoto, M and Motomura, H (2011) Epigonus carbonarius, a new species of deepwater cardinalfish (Perciformes: Epigonidae) from the Marquesas Islands, with a redefinition of the Epigonus oligolepis group. Ichthyological Research 58, 155–160.10.1007/s10228-011-0205-7CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Okamoto, M and Motomura, H (2012) Epigonus exodon, a new species of deepwater cardinalfish (Teleostei: Perciformes: Epigonidae) from Reunion, western Indian Ocean. Zootaxa 3453, 84–88.10.11646/zootaxa.3453.1.6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palumbi, SR (1996) Nucleic acids II: The polymerase chain reaction. In Hillis, DM, Moritz, C and Mable, BK (eds), Molecular Systematics. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, 205–247.Google Scholar
Sileesh, MS (2021) Diversity, biology and resource characteristics of deep-sea demersal finfishes off south west coast of India and Andaman & Nicobar Islands of the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone. PhD thesis. Kerala, India: Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies.Google Scholar
Venu, S (2009) The systematics, distribution and bionomics of deep sea fishes beyond depth 200m along the south west coast of India. PhD thesis. Kerala, India: Cochin University of Science and Technology.Google Scholar
Venu, S (2013) Deep-sea fish distribution along the south-west region of Indian EEZ. In Venkataraman, K, Sivaperuman, C and Raghunathan, C (eds), Ecology and Conservation of Tropical Marine Faunal Communities. Heidelberg: Springer, 261–281.10.1007/978-3-642-38200-0_17CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ward, RD, Zemlak, TS, Innes, BH, Last, PR and Hebert, PD (2005) DNA barcoding Australia’s fish species. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 360, 1847–1857.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wong, TKF, Ly-Trong, N, Ren, H, Banos, H, Roger, AJ, Susko, E, Bielow, C, Maio, ND, Goldman, N, Hahn, MW, Huttley, G, Lanfear, R and Minh, BQ (2025) IQ-TREE 3: Phylogenetic inference software using complex evolutionary models. https://ecoevorxiv.org/repository/view/8916/ (accessed 12 April 2025).10.32942/X2P62NCrossRefGoogle Scholar