Hyporthodus griseofasciatus (Perciformes: Epinephelidae), a new species of deep-water grouper from the west coast of Australia

Abstract

A new species of deep-water epinephelid fish is described from the west coast of Australia based on 14 specimens, 99–595 mm standard length. Hyporthodus griseofasciatus sp. nov. is endemic to Western Australia from Barrow Island to Two Peoples Bay in depths of 76–470 m. It has a series of eight grey bands alternating with eight brown bands along the body and the soft dorsal, soft anal and caudal fin margins are pale cream to white. It is distinguished from its nearest congener, H. ergastularius, by the presence of a star-like pattern of radiating lines on the head versus an overall brownish colour in the latter as well as significant differences in the quantitative analyses of 25 morphological characters. The two species have allopatric distributions on either side of the Australian continent. H. griseofasciatus is distinguished from H. octofasciatus by several grey bands being distinctly narrower than other grey bands (vs. all grey bands subequal in the latter) and the presence of broad white margins on the dorsal, caudal and anal fins (vs. narrow or absent in the latter). Some scale counts appear to also differ. Analyses of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 sequences revealed reciprocally monophyletic clades with fixed differences and genetic distances typical of recently diverged species of fishes.