Four new records of shore fishes for the Red Sea, with notes on Parupeneus heptacanthus and Diodon liturosus

Abstract

New records of fishes for the Red Sea include the Indian Oil Sardine, Sardinella longiceps Valenciennes, based on two specimens obtained in the fish market of Hurghada, Egypt; the Needle Pipehorse, Kyonemichthys rumengani Gomon from a single specimen from Hamata, Egypt; the Herring Scad, Alepes vari (Cuvier), from an underwater photograph taken at the Hanish Islands at the southern end of the Red Sea; and the Twospot Hogfish, Bodianus bimaculatus Allen, from an underwater photograph taken of a subadult off Jeddah. An underwater photograph of the Cinnabar Goatfish, Parupeneus heptacanthus (Lacepède), taken at Marsa Alam, Egypt was first misidentified as P. procerigena Kim & Amaoka; a comparison of these two species is provided. The range of the Blackblotched Porcupinefish, Diodon liturosus Shaw, is extended from the southern to the northern Red Sea. Three individuals that were photographed in Egypt had numerous small black spots on the fins. The species lacks spots on the fins elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific region.