RESEARCH ARTICLE

Preliminary review of the pempherid fish genus Parapriacanthus of the western Indian Ocean, with descriptions of five new species

John E. Randall & Sergey V. Bogorodsky

Abstract

The pempherid fish genus Parapriacanthus Steindachner, 1870 is represented in the western Indian Ocean by seven species: P. guentheri (Klunzinger, 1871), a Red Sea endemic long mistakenly considered a synonym of P. ransonneti Steindachner, 1870 from Japan; P. argenteus (von Bonde, 1923), described from South Africa, also falsely regarded as a synonym of P. ransonneti; and the following five new species: P. darros n. sp., type locality D’Arros Island, Seychelles; P. kwazulu, n. sp., type locality Park Rynie, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; P. punctulatus n. sp., type locality Sodwana Bay, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; P. rahah n. sp., type locality Rahah Bay, south coast of Oman; and P. sharm n. sp., type locality Gulf of Aqaba, Sinai Peninsula, the second Red Sea endemic species. The syntypes of P. argenteus have been lost; a neotype is designated, described, and deposited in the collection of the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity, Grahamstown, South Africa.