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The family Haemulidae is a wide-ranging group of marine fishes that are of significant commercial value in the Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP). Phylogenetic studies on the species Anisotremus interruptus have revealed high levels of genetic diversity as well as divergence among populations in the TEP, which suggests that the taxonomic diversity of A. interruptus could be underestimated. Anisotremus interruptus has a large distribution, ranging from central Baja California, Mexico to northern Peru, including all oceanic islands except Clipperton. Recent genetic studies on this taxon indicate the presence of a species complex of at least three distinctive lineages. We performed a comparative study of the population-level meristic and morphometric variation of A. interruptus in the TEP to evaluate and identify possible morphological features concordant with the genetic differentiation of populations. Our results provide evidence of the presence of two new species of the genus Anisotremus, A. perezponcedeleoni sp. n. from the Revillagigedo Archipelago and A. espinozai sp.n. from Galapagos Archipelago-Cocos Island.

This checklist of the Mediterranean fishes of Israel enumerates 469 species which is an addition of 62 species since the previous checklist of 2005. This new checklist includes 58 Condrichthys and 411 Osteicthys species. Most newly-recorded species are of Red Sea origin (Lessepsian migrants)—38 species, 25 species are from previously poorly investigated habitats, mainly deep water, while two species reached the Mediterranean most likely by ballast water and two are aquaculture escapees. The dramatic increase in the number of Lessepsian migrants (an average of 2.5 species per year) is most likely due to the increased water influx between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, following the recent opening of the new parallel, 72 km, “new canal” and the enlargement of other parts of the Suez Canal.

This is an annotated checklist of the marine fish species of Lebanon (Levant coast, eastern Mediterranean). It comprises a total of 367 fish species distributed in 159 families and 27 orders, out of which 70 species are non-indigenous and 28 are recorded for the first time from Lebanon. The checklist includes all names and citations of species found in the literature, as well as references to specimens available in museum collections. It also includes an updated zoogeographic distribution and conservation status for each species. Threats were estimated based on surveys and observations made over the last two decades; broadly categorized conservation actions were also suggested.

The current checklist provides for each species of the Red Sea its records in the Gulf of Suez, Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea main basin and its general distribution.This new checklist of Red Sea fishes enumerates 1207 species, representing 164 families. Of these, 797 species were recorded from the Gulf of Aqaba and 339 from the Gulf of Suez. The number of species from the Gulf of Suez is evidently lower than the actual number not including 27 Lessepsian (Red Sea) migrants to the Mediterranean that most likely occur in the Gulf. The current list includes 73 species that were newly described for science since the last checklist of 2010. The most specious Osteichthyes families are: Gobiidae (134 species), Labridae (66), Apogonidae (59), Serranidae (including Anthiadinae) (44), Blenniidae (42), Carangidae (38), Muraenidae (36), Pomacentridae (35), Syngnathidae (34), Scorpaenidae (24) and Lutjanidae (23). Among the families of Chondrichthyes, the most specious families are the Carcharhinidae (18 species) and Dasyatidae (11). The total number of endemic species in the Red Sea is 174 species, of these, 34 species are endemic to the Gulf of Aqaba and 8 to the Gulf of Suez.

Two distinct haemulid fishes from Australia and the Indo-Australian Archipelago respectively have long been confused with Plectorhinchus schotaf (Forsskal, 1775). Plectorhinchus caeruleonothus sp. nov. is described from 17 specimens collected off western and far northern Australia, between the Monte Bello Islands, Western Australia and Torres Strait, Queensland. It has also been confirmed outside this range by photographs taken at Ningaloo Reef and Exmouth Gulf, Western Australia, and at Claremont Isles and Lizard Island, Queensland. The new species is unique among the genus in having a combination of dorsal-fin rays XII, 18-20, lateral-line scales 56-61, gill rakers 7-9 on the upper limb and 18-20 on the lower limb of the first arch, nostrils minute, and fresh colouration in adults including body uniformly grey, cheek, opercles and posterior margin of the opercular membrane uniformly blue-grey, and rim of orbit and upper edge of maxilla dusky yellow. In contrast to its closest congeners, the juveniles have a distinctive pattern of narrow creamish-white to pale grey stripes on a dark grey to chocolate brown background on the head and body, and oblique dark stripes progressing with growth to spots on the caudal fin. Plectorhinchus unicolor (Macleay, 1883) from Japan to northern Australia is resurrected from the synonomy of P. schotaf and redescribed on the basis of the holotype and 24 non-type specimens. Plectorhinchus unicolor is most similar to P. schotaf, but can be distinguished by fresh colouration, modal dorsal and pectoral-fin ray counts and DNA barcoding. Plectorhinchus schotaf appears to be restricted to the region from southeast Africa to the Arabian Sea, including the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. Plectorhinchus griseus (Cuvier in Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1830) from Indian and Sri Lankan Seas has previously been treated as a junior synonym of P. schotaf, but in accordance with Smith (1962), is here confirmed as a valid species, readily distinguished from the latter by a concavity in the lateral profile of the snout in adults, deep body and high soft dorsal-fin ray count. Comparison of the CO1 genetic marker utilised in DNA barcoding also resulted in significant genetic divergences between the new species, P. unicolor and their closest sampled congeners. Some behavioural observations are also presented for the species treated, including aggressive interactions between individuals of the new species, the likes of which have not previously been recorded among species of Plectorhinchus.

We infer a phylogeny of haemulid genera using mitochondrial COI and Cyt b genes and nuclear RAG1, SH3PX3, and Plagl2 genes from 56 haemulid species representing 18 genera of the expanded haemulids (including the former inermiids) and ten outgroup species. Results from maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian analyses show strong support for a monophyletic Haemulidae with the inclusion of Emmelichthyops atlanticus. The former inermiids did not form a clade indicating that the highly protrusible upper jaw specialization to planktivory evolved more than once within Haemulidae. The subfamilies Haemulinae and Plectorhinchinae, currently diagnosed by eight morphological characters, most notably the number of chin pores and the origin of the retractor dorsalis, are also recovered from these analyses with the Haemulinae sister to the Plectorhinchinae. Plectorhinchus is monophyletic only with the inclusion of Diagramma. Within the Haemulinae, Pomadasys and Conodon are polyphyletic. In addition, Anisotremus is monophyletic only with the inclusion of Genyatremus and Conodon nobilis, and Haemulon is monophyletic only with the inclusion of Xenistius. These results suggest that further morphological and molecular studies are needed to revise the limits of several haemulid genera.

Sequences of ITS2 rDNA of 36 individuals of 16 host/parasite/location combinations of transversotrematids from labrid, scarid, haemulid and lethrinid fishes from Heron and Lizard Islands on the Great Barrier Reef and Ningaloo Reef Western off Australia comprised four distinct genotypes. One genotype was associated with three species of Labridae at Heron Island, the second with eight species of Scaridae at Heron Island, the third with two species of Scaridae from Ningaloo, and the fourth with two species of Lethrinidae and one of Haemulidae from Lizard Island. All four forms are broadly morphologically similar to Transversotrema haasi Witenberg, 1944. The two genotypes from scarids differed at only a single base position and were morphologically indistinguishable; all other combinations of genotypes differed by at least 3 bases. Comparisons between specimens from labrids, scarids, and haemulids and lethrinids revealed consistent differences in the number of vitelline follicles enclosed by the cyclocoel and in the relative sizes of the testes. We conclude that these three forms should be considered distinct species. The species associated with labrids is broadly consistent with and has previously been identified as T. haasi which was originally reported from an unknown fish from the Red Sea. As no molecular comparison can be made between the original T. haasi and the three similar forms from Australia, we propose three new species: Transversotrema elegans n. sp. from labrids, T. gigantica n. sp. from scarids, and T. lacerta n. sp. from haemulids and lethrinids.

The Transversotrematidae, perhaps because of their unique and obscure habitat under the scales of fishes, have been little reported in surveys and studies of trematodes of marine fishes. At present there are just three fully marine species recognized. We have surveyed 2604 individuals, from 359 species and 71 families, of marine fishes from a range of sites mainly from coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific. We found infections on 87 species and 15 families of fishes; one family, Monodactylidae, is new for transversotrematids. Morphological and molecular analyses suggest that, in addition to Crusziella formosa which parasitizes only mugilids, there are three complexes of species of Transversotrema; one associated with mullids only, one with haemulids, labrids, lethrinids and scarids, and one associated with at least 13 families of fishes. Molecular evidence suggests that these complexes comprise at least 22 species. Overall we conclude that the richness of this family has been significantly underestimated and that it is rich and abundant on fishes of the Indo-Pacific.

A check-list of the coastal fishes of Madeira Island is presented. The species Rhincodon typus, Megalops atlanticus, Apterichtus caecus, Apterichtus sp., Chelidonichthys lucernus, Caranx crysos, Lutjanus goreensis, Crystallogobius linearis, and Canthidermis sufflamen are recorded for the first time from Madeira waters. We have recognized 13 previous records as identification errors or registration errors and indicate 14 other records as doubtful. Including the nine new records, we list 226 species from the coastal waters of Madeira Island.