Research Article |
Corresponding author: Shufang Liu ( liusf@ysfri.ac.cn ) Academic editor: Nalani Schnell
© 2023 Changting An, Ang Li, Huan Wang, Busu Li, Kaiying Liu, Hongyue Sun, Shufang Liu, Zhimeng Zhuang, Richard van der Laan.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
An C, Li A, Wang H, Li B, Liu K, Sun H, Liu S, Zhuang Z, van der Laan R (2023) Identification of the rare deep-dwelling goby Suruga fundicola Jordan & Snyder, 1901 (Gobiiformes, Gobiidae) from the Yellow Sea. Zoosystematics and Evolution 99(2): 489-501. https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.99.102345
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During the 2022 R/V cruises in the Yellow Sea, four goby specimens (51.2‒63.5 mm) were captured by using an Agassiz trawl at a water depth of about 70 meters. These specimens were identified as Suruga fundicola, mainly by the morphometric characters. Their identification was further confirmed by a molecular phylogenetic analysis based on 12S and COI mtDNA genes. Considering that the four specimens were in good condition and that the original description is brief, a detailed description of the specimens is given. Moreover, the present study presents a preliminary analysis of its phylogenetic position within the Acanthogobius-lineage (Gobiidae). The discovery of this goby in the Yellow Sea enriches our knowledge of the fish diversity and distribution of this region, and sheds some light on the ecological habitat of these gobies.
Acanthogobius-lineage, distribution, morphology, mtDNA genes, species identification, taxonomy
The gobies (order Gobiiformes) include about 2400 species divided into about 320 genera, which are widely distributed throughout the tropical, subtropical, and temperate regions of the world (
The goby genus Suruga Jordan & Snyder, 1901 of the family Gobiidae comprises only one species, Suruga fundicola Jordan & Snyder, 1901 (
These eight genera including 18 species, are defined by a unique pattern of the dorsal-pterygiophore formula 3/ I II II I I I 0 (indicating the relationship between the pterygiophores of the dorsal fins and the corresponding spines of the vertebrae), and these genera are regarded as a putative monophyletic assemblage (
Since its original description, S. fundicola has occasionally been found in marine surveys (
Historical distributional records of S. fundicola and the sampling stations. The red full circle 1 indicates the type locality: Sagami Bay (
Two R/V cruises, conducted during 2022, yielded four goby specimens from stations H27 (35°59.69'N, 123°07.63'E) and H12 (33°59.55'N, 123°22.99'E) in the Yellow Sea (see Fig.
This is the first report on the occurrence of S. fundicola in the Yellow Sea based on available specimens.
The fisheries resources survey vessel Lanhai 101 carried out two R/V cruises conducted by the Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute (YSFRI) in spring (April) and summer (July) 2022. A small Agassiz trawl (with a mouth of 1.8 m in width and 0.6 m in height) was employed during each cruise, at an average speed of 3 n mile/h (=5556 m/h) for 20 minutes. Four specimens of S. fundicola were collected, two in the spring (at H27 on 15 April) and two in the summer (one at H12 on 16 July and one at H12 on 20 July). The environmental parameters were obtained by the CTD measurements (SBE 911). Immediately after the capture of these specimens, the digital photographs were taken for each of them in a special glass tank with a Canon 5DSR, equipped with a micro lens (Canon), see Fig.
Meristic counts and morphometric measurements followed the methods used by
Comparison of meristic and morphometric data of S. fundicola with the literature values. The numbers in bold point to the observed differences. Dorsal-fin pterygiophore formula is expressed as “3/I II II I I I 0 i/12”, where “3” shows the number of vertebrae before the 1st dorsal fin is inserted, the Roman numerals in uppercase show the number of the dorsal pterygiophores inserted between the neural spines, the Roman numeral in lowercase shows the number of the interdorsal pterygiophores, and “12” shows that the two pterygiophore of the 1st ray of the second dorsal fin are mounted over the 12th vertebrae (
Characteristic | Present study | Original description |
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---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Range | Mean | Range | Mean | Range | Mean | |
Standard length (mm) | 51.8–63.5 | 58.7 | 50.0–63.0 | 55.3 | 44.3–51.8 | |
Meristic counts | ||||||
First dorsal fin rays | VIII | VIII | VIII | VIII | VIII | VIII |
Second dorsal fin rays | I, 16 | I, 16 | 17–19 | 17.8 | I, 16–17 | |
Anal fin rays | I, 15–16 | I, 15.8 | 16–18 | 17 | I, 15–16 | |
Pectoral fin rays | 20–21 | 20.3 | 20–22 | |||
Pelvic fin rays | I–5 | I–5 | ||||
Lateral line scales | 39–41 | 40 | 38–44 | 40.5 | 37–42 | |
Transverse scales | 8–10 | 9.0 | 10–11 | |||
Predorsal scales | 10–11 | 10.8 | 10–12 | 10.7 | 8–11 | |
Vertebral number | 14+21 | 14+21 | 14+21–22 | |||
Dorsal-fin pterygiophore formula | 3/I Ⅱ Ⅱ I I I 0 i/12 | |||||
Morphometric data | ||||||
Percentage against SL (%) | ||||||
Head length | 24.5–28.0 | 26.1 | 26.0–27.0 | 26.3 | 25.9–29.7 | 27.8 |
Head depth | 13.1–17.6 | 15.4 | 14.6–17.6 | 16.1 | ||
Head width | 13.2–14.2 | 13.6 | 15.1–18.3 | 16.8 | ||
Snout length | 4.5–5.7 | 5.5 | 5.0–7.0 | 6.0 | 5.4–7.8 | 6.4 |
Eye diameter | 8.1–9.7 | 8.7 | 9.5–11.0 | 10.1 | 9.2–11.4 | 10.0 |
Interorbital width | 0.9–1.9 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.7–2.1 | 1.5 |
Jaw length | 8.3–10.3 | 9.0 | 10.0–11.0 | 10.3 | 8.6–11.9 | 10.5 |
Body width | 10.6–10.3 | 11.8 | 10.9–14.7 | 12.6 | ||
Body depth at origin of first dorsal fin | 15.3–22.4 | 18.9 | 15.3–19.0 | 16.9 | ||
Body depth at origin of anal fin | 16.0–18.3 | 16.9 | 12.1–15.1 | 13.4 | ||
Snout to origin of first dorsal fin | 31.5–33.4 | 32.5 | 32.0–36.0 | 33.5 | 28.6–36.0 | 33.4 |
Snout to origin of second dorsal fin | 53.3–58.7 | 55.1 | 52.0–54.0 | 52.5 | 51.4–55.7 | 53.7 |
Snout to origin of anal fin | 55.7–61.1 | 59.1 | 56.0–58.0 | 57.5 | 53.0–58.6 | 55.9 |
Caudal peduncle length | 10.7–13.5 | 11.7 | 10.0–14.0 | 11.8 | ||
Caudal peduncle depth | 6.9–8.8 | 8.0 | 7.0–7.5 | 7.1 | 6.7–9.1 | 8.2 |
Pectoral fin length | 19.5–21.8 | 20.6 | 21 | 21 | 17.7–20.9 | 19.0 |
Base of dorsal fin | 13.8–14.7 | 14.3 | 13.4–16.3 | 14.7 | ||
Base of second dorsal fin | 33.7–36.6 | 35.4 | 30.8–38.3 | 35.6 | ||
Base of anal fin | 30.2–37.7 | 32.4 | 30.6–37.0 | 32.4 | ||
Caudal fin length | 19.8 –23.3 | 21.4 | 18.6–27.2 | 22.3 |
DNA was extracted by using TIANamp Genomic DNA Kit (Tiangen Biotech, Beijing) according to the manufacturer’s recommended protocol, and the quality was estimated at wave-length 260/280 nm by a Nano-300 micro-spectrophotometer (Allsheng, Hangzhou, China). The obtained DNA solutions were stored at -20 °C until used.
The mitochondrial 12S rRNA (12S) and the cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) genes were amplified by PCR with different primer combinations. For 12S, we used MiFish-U-F and MiFish-U-R designed by
Species | Specimen catalog | GenBank no. | Sampling location | Resource | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
COI | 12S rRNA | ||||
Suruga fundicola 1 | YSFRI27216 | OP824753 | OP837791 | Yellow Sea station H27 | Present study |
S. fundicola 2 | YSFRI27217 | OP824754 | OP837792 | Yellow Sea station H27 | Present study |
S. fundicola 3 | YSFRI36942 | OP824752 | OP837789 | Yellow Sea station H12 | Present study |
S. fundicola 4 | YSFRI36943 | OP824755 | OP837790 | Yellow Sea station H27 | Present study |
S. fundicola 5 | CBM:ZF:15688 | / | LC069781 | Japan: off west of Jogashima Island | GenBank |
Amblychaeturichthys hexanema 1 | YSFR27208 | OP824756 | OP837786 | North Yellow Sea | Present study |
Am. hexanema 2 | YSFR27209 | OP824757 | OP837787 | North Yellow Sea | Present study |
Am. hexanema 3 | YSFR27210 | OP824758 | OP837788 | North Yellow Sea | Present study |
Am. hexanema 4 | Uncatalogued | KT781104 | KT781104 | China: Qingdao, Shandong Prov. | GenBank |
Acanthogobius flavimanus | Uncatalogued | MW271007 | MW271007 | Uncatalogued (Maybe from China) | GenBank |
Ac. hasta | Uncatalogued | MK253669 | MK253669 | China: Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Prov. | GenBank |
Chaeturichthys stigmatias | Uncatalogued | MN038166 | MN038166 | China: Qingdao, Shandong Prov. | GenBank |
Lophiogobius ocellicauda | Uncatalogued | KR815520 | KR815520 | China: Zhoushan, Zhejiang Prov. | GenBank |
Lepidogobius lepidus | UW:151092 | KF918879 | LC092050 | USA: Washington, Puget Sound | GenBank |
Chaenogobius gulosus | JM120726-11 | KP696748 | KP696748 | Korea: coastal area of Jangmok | GenBank |
Chaenogobius annularis | Uncatalogued | OM830225 | OM830225 | China | GenBank |
Gymnogobius urotaenia | Uncatalogued | KT601093 | KT601093 | Uncatalogued (Maybe from South Korea) | GenBank |
Parachaeturichthys polynema | ECSFRI-NMW01 | OK012405 | OK012405 | China: East China Sea | GenBank |
Eucyclogobius newberryi | LodgeLab Enewberryi_1 | KP013101 | KP013101 | Uncatalogued | GenBank |
Gillichthys mirabilis | Uncatalogued | FJ211845 | FJ211845 | China: Nantong city, Jiangsu Prov. | GenBank |
Gymnogobius petschiliensis | 20131115NA05 | AY525784 | AY525784 | China: Qingdao, Shandong Prov. | GenBank |
Luciogobius platycephalus | Uncatalogued | JX971538 | JX971538 | China: Zhoushan, Jiangsu Prov. | GenBank |
L. pallidus | Uncatalogued | KF040451 | KF040451 | South Korea: Jeju Island | GenBank |
Tridentiger bifasciatus | Uncatalogued | JN244650 | JN244650 | China: Zhoushan fishing ground Zhejiang Prov. | GenBank |
T. trigonocephalus | Uncatalogued | KT282115 | KT282115 | Uncatalogued (Maybe from China) | GenBank |
Rhinogobius similis | Uncatalogued | KF371534 | KF371534 | China: Liangzi Lake in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River | GenBank |
Odontobutis haifengensis (Odontobutidae) | Uncatalogued | MF383619 | MF383619 | China: Fengshun, Guanggong | GenBank |
All amplified sequences of the two mtDNA genes were concatenated and used for molecular phylogenetic analysis, along with 37 GenBank-retrieved sequences from 19 related species of 14 genera belonging to the Acanthogobius-lineage. In addition, Odontobutis haifengensis Chen, 1985 (Odontobutidae) was used as an outgroup (Table
Data | Station | Bottom layer | Surface layer | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
D (m) | T (°C) | S(‰) | D (m) | T (°C) | S(‰) | ||
April 18, 2022 | H12 | 69.0 | 10.5 | 33.0 | 3.2 | 12.1 | 32.6 |
April 15, 2022 | H27 | 74.0 | 9.5 | 32.8 | 2.8 | 10.5 | 32.6 |
July 16, 2022 | H12 | 69.0 | 10.8 | 33.1 | 2.0 | 26.9 | 30.8 |
July 20, 2022 | H27 | 74.0 | 9.2 | 32.8 | 2.8 | 25.6 | 30.8 |
Suruga fundicola
Jordan & Snyder, 1901: 96, fig. 20 (original description, type locality: Sagami Sea, Japan);
Distinct from all other gobies (Gobiidae), members of the Acanthogobius-group share a unique dominant pattern of the dorsal-pterygiophore formula, 3/I II II I I I 0 (
The counts and measurements are given in Table
The following measurements are in % SL: head length 24.5–28.0 (mean 26.1); head depth 13.1–17.6 (15.4); head width 13.2–14.2 (13.6); snout length 4.5–5.7 (5.5); eye diameter 8.1–9.7 (8.7); interorbital width 0.9–1.9 (1.4); jaw length 8.3–10.3 (9.0); body width 10.6–10.3 (11.8); body depth at origin of first dorsal fin 15.3–22.4 (18.9); body depth at origin of anal fin 16.0–18.3 (16.9); snout to origin of first dorsal fin 31.5 –33.4 (32.5); snout to origin of second dorsal fin 53.3–58.7 (55.1); snout to origin of anal fin 55.7–61.1 (59.1); caudal peduncle length 10.7–13.5 (11.7); caudal peduncle depth 6.9–8.8 (8.0); pectoral fin length 19.5–21.8 (20.6); base of dorsal fin 13.8–14.7 (14.3); base of second dorsal fin 33.7–36.6 (35.4); base of anal fin 30.2–37.7 (32.4); caudal fin length 19.8–23.3 (21.4).
General body appearance was shown in Figs
Fins flexible, without spinous rays. First dorsal fin with 8 slender spines, reaching origin of second dorsal when depressed; dorsal-pterygiophore formula 3/I II II I I I 0 i/12. Second dorsal fin with 1 simple and 16 branched rays, shorter than the first spines. Origin of first dorsal fin posterior to a vertical through base of pectoral fins, first dorsal fin without filamentous spines. The distal margin of the first dorsal fin is convex, when adpressed, the distal tip touches the base of the spine of the second dorsal fin. Dorsal fins discontinuous. Origin of second dorsal fin somewhat at vertical through the anus, and anterior to the anal fin. When adpressed, the distal tips of the second dorsal fin and the anal fins do not reach the procurrent rays of the caudal fin. Pectoral fins rounded, with 20 rays. The pectoral fin extends posteriorly to the vertical line through the posterior margin of the base of the first dorsal fin. Pelvic fin fused into a disc, each with 1 simple and 5 branched rays. Anal fin with 15–16 rays, the anterior of the anal fin below the third branched dorsal ray of the second dorsal fin. Segmented caudal-fin rays 7+7, upper unsegmented caudal fin rays about 12 and lower unsegmented caudal fin rays about 11.
Cephalic canals are variably developed and are shown in Fig.
Dorsal (top), lateral (middle), and ventral (bottom) views of the head of S. fundicola: YSFRI27216, 63.5 mm SL female), showing cephalic sensory canal pores (indicated by roman uppercase letters, except for AN and PN) and papillae (indicated by roman lowercase letters). AN and PN, indicated anterior and posterior nares, respectively.
Cranium flat, frontals extremely narrow (Fig.
Micro-CT images of right (a), dorsal (b), and ventral (c) views of specimen YSFRI27216; front (d) dorsal (e), ventral (f), and oblique view (g) of the head of specimen YSFRI27216. 1. teeth, 2. premaxilla, 3. maxilla, 4. palatine, 5. ectethmoid, 6. parasphenoid, 7. frontal, 8. parietal, 9. supraoccipital, 10. neural spine, 11. first dorsal fin spines, 12. interdorsal pterygiophores, 13. pterygiophore, 14. second dorsal fin rays, 15. neural spine of preural centrum 3(NPU3), 16. neural spine of preural centrum 2(NPU2), 17. epural 1 (EP1), 18. epural 2 (EP2), 19. urostyle, 20. hypural 5 (HY5), 21. hypural 3+4 (HY3+4), 22. hypural 1+2 (HY1+2), 23. dental, 24. articular, 25. sympletic, 26. branchiostegal rays, 27. preopercular, 28. subopercular, 29. proximal radials, 30. pectoral fin soft rays, 31. pelvic fin spine, 32. vertebral canal, 33. boundary of abdominal vertebra and candal vertebrae, 34. anal fin rays, 35. ventrispinales, 36. haemal spine of preural centrum 3 (HPU 3), 37. haemal spine of preural centrum 2 (HPU 2), 38. parhypural (PH), 39. caudal fin ray, 40. rib, 41. parapophysis, 42. pelvic bone, 43. ethmoid, 44. lapillus 3+4 (HY3+4), 45. sagittae, 46. asteriscus, 47. basihyal, 48. ceratohyal, 3 (HPU 3). 49. epihyal, 50. cleithrum, 51. pharyngeal tooth, 52. ceratobranchial.
In freshly collected specimens (Fig.
Coloration changed after 2 months of preservation (10% formalin preservative and then transformed to 75% alcohol), the yellow and orange pigment disappeared from body and fins, and the body of the fish became dark-yellowish, covered with tiny black spots, back darker and belly lighter, snout black, lateral dark spots not clear. Pupil of the eye white, iris golden black. Dorsal, pectoral, pelvic and anal fins light greyish.
Northwest Pacific: off Pacific coasts from Miyagi Prefecture to Tosa Bay, Japan Sea from Aomori to Yamaguchi Prefecture, Okinawa Trough (
The four specimens were collected at depths between 69 and 74 meters (Fig.
The catch at the stations mainly consists of ophiuroids, molluscs, jellyfishes, fishes and so on, most common species of which are the brittle stars Ophiura sarsii vadicola Djakonov, 1954 (Ophiuroidea) and Stegophiura sladeni (Duncan, 1879) (Ophiuroidea) (Fig.
Sequence characteristics and phylogenetic placement. The concatenated COI and 12S sequences from 22 species were 704 bp in length (after trimming, except LC069781), including 400 conserved sites, 307 variable sites, 278 parsimony informative sites, and 24 singleton sites. The mean four nucleotide frequency of S. fundicola was A=26.1%, T=28.8%, C=27.3% and G =17.8%, slightly A-T rich (54.9%). The intragroup sequence divergence of S. fundicola was 0.5%; the genetic distance between samples of the Yellow Sea and the sequence (LC069781) of S. fundicola from west of Jogashima Island of Japan was 0.2%. This species has a genetic distance of 19.2% (C. stigmatias) to 26.3% (E. newberryi) to the other 20 species we used (see Table
Genetic distances (%) based on concatenated COI and 12S sequences computed by MEGA X among 21 groups. S. fundicola * was sequenced for the present study.
Group | Intragroup | Intergroup | ||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | |||
1. | Suruga fundicola * | 0.5 | ||||||||||||||||||||
2. | S. fundicola | n/c | 0.2 | |||||||||||||||||||
3. | Am. hexanema | 0.5 | 21.5 | 19.5 | ||||||||||||||||||
4 | Ac. flavimanus | n/c | 23.9 | 26.5 | 26.6 | |||||||||||||||||
5 | Ac. hasta | n/c | 24.4 | 22.9 | 23.7 | 13.6 | ||||||||||||||||
6 | C. stigmatias | n/c | 19.2 | 17.9 | 15.1 | 25.6 | 22.8 | |||||||||||||||
7 | Lo. ocellicauda | n/c | 21.6 | 20.1 | 27.3 | 21.2 | 20.9 | 25.5 | ||||||||||||||
8 | Ch. gulosus | n/c | 23.5 | 14.8 | 26.6 | 24.6 | 25.2 | 23.4 | 20.2 | |||||||||||||
9 | Ch. annularis | n/c | 23.9 | 16.1 | 25.7 | 26.3 | 25.3 | 25.0 | 25.3 | 11.2 | ||||||||||||
10 | Gy. urotaenia | n/c | 21.4 | 18.7 | 25.0 | 24.3 | 22.6 | 23.7 | 23.6 | 15.2 | 15.4 | |||||||||||
11 | Gy. petschiliensis | n/c | 23.5 | 22.2 | 25.9 | 26.0 | 23.8 | 25.3 | 24.0 | 16.9 | 16.2 | 2.8 | ||||||||||
12 | P. polynema | n/c | 24.0 | 21.8 | 27.9 | 22.9 | 26.1 | 26.3 | 21.3 | 27.0 | 28.5 | 23.9 | 23.1 | |||||||||
13 | E. newberryi | n/c | 26.3 | 22.6 | 31.4 | 25.0 | 24.5 | 28.2 | 26.8 | 19.7 | 21.6 | 21.0 | 21.8 | 26.9 | ||||||||
14 | Gi. mirabilis | n/c | 20.9 | 12.6 | 23.9 | 24.7 | 21.4 | 23.3 | 20.6 | 17.4 | 21.4 | 17.1 | 18.7 | 23.4 | 20.1 | |||||||
15 | Le. lepidus | n/c | 21.1 | 16.1 | 24.9 | 24.1 | 22.9 | 22.0 | 24.3 | 19.2 | 20.2 | 16.0 | 16.9 | 24.7 | 17.2 | 16.2 | ||||||
16 | Lu. platycephalus | n/c | 21.4 | 15.5 | 24.5 | 23.2 | 23.8 | 23.6 | 22.2 | 13.7 | 14.0 | 14.1 | 14.8 | 23.3 | 19.3 | 15.6 | 17.5 | |||||
17 | Lu. pallidus | n/c | 22.8 | 20.2 | 22.8 | 23.5 | 22.3 | 21.2 | 24.2 | 15.4 | 15.4 | 13.1 | 14.0 | 24.6 | 19.3 | 15.9 | 16.5 | 10.9 | ||||
18 | T. bifasciatus | n/c | 25.0 | 29.0 | 26.2 | 26.3 | 25.4 | 24.7 | 24.5 | 24.4 | 25.1 | 23.2 | 23.5 | 25.0 | 24.4 | 24.7 | 25.3 | 25.1 | 24.6 | |||
19 | T. trigonocephalus | n/c | 23.7 | 29.0 | 26.2 | 25.4 | 25.8 | 26.9 | 26.8 | 27.5 | 26.1 | 24.8 | 24.8 | 24.3 | 28.0 | 24.6 | 25.5 | 24.0 | 24.8 | 12.9 | ||
20 | R. similis | n/c | 20.1 | 14.8 | 23.0 | 23.8 | 24.0 | 22.2 | 23.3 | 19.4 | 21.4 | 18.7 | 19.7 | 22.2 | 22.9 | 18.6 | 19.2 | 18.3 | 20.0 | 21.1 | 21.9 | |
21 | O. haifengensis | n/c | 22.5 | 23.5 | 27.1 | 24.1 | 26.2 | 26.3 | 24.5 | 25.7 | 26.4 | 22.4 | 21.8 | 24.1 | 24.8 | 24.4 | 22.8 | 22.7 | 20.9 | 29.7 | 27.3 | 22.3 |
YSFRI27216–27217, 2 specimens, 51.2–63.5 mm SL, station H27, Yellow Sea, off Qingdao, Shandong Province, China (35°59.69'N, 123°07.63'E), collected by Changting An on 15 April, 2022; YSFRI36942, 1 specimen, 60.5 mm SL, station H12, Yellow Sea, off Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, China (33°59.88'N, 123°24.14'E), collected by Hongyue Sun, on 16 July, 2022; YSFRI36943, 1 specimen, 59.1 mm SL, station H27, Yellow Sea, off Qingdao, Shandong Province, China (35°56.03'N 123°07.54'E), collected by Hongyue Sun, on 20 July, 2022.
According to Jordan & Snyder’s (1901) record, the type specimen (USNM 49744) was caught in a depth of 65 fathoms (119 meters), off Sagama, Japan. Unfortunately, the holotype of this species cannot be examined now, for it was lost in 1980 (
Clearly, the four specimens AMNH I-35829 (91.40–104.55 mm SL, Fig.
Despite the recognition of four specimens from the Yellow Sea as S. fundicola, the following characteristics slightly differ from the data given in the original description. The head depth and width were less than those of the body (vs. head deeper and broader than those of the body). Based on Fig.
A total of 15 goby specimens from Tongyeong of South Korea were recognized as S. fundicola by
The larval specimens, collected from two stations of the East China Sea by beam trawl in June 1956 [orange full circle 8 (32°04'N, 123°03'E) and 9 (31°53'N, 123°26'E); Fig.
The species is regarded as the deepest dwelling Gobiidae in Japan, at depths from 40 to 400 meters with a sandy silt bottom (
Suruga fundicola was assigned to the Acanthogobius-group based on morphological evidence (
Suruga fundicola: AMNH I-3549, paratypes, 2 specimens, 48.2–60.3 mm SL; 1900; Suruga bay, Honshu Island, Japan (photograph examined).
Lophiogobius ocellicauda: AMNH I-35829, 4 specimens, 91.40–104.5 mm SL; Mar 1926; Foochow (=Fuzhou), Fukien (=Fujian Province), China (photograph examined).
Amblychaeturichthys hexanema: YSFRI27207–27210, 4 specimens, 60.9–85.5 mm SL; Sept 2022; Qiangdao, Shandong Province, China.
Chaeturichthys stigmatias: YSFRI 34428–34429; 12 specimens; 68.9–95.5 mm SL; Dandong, Liaoning Province, China. YSFRI 34407–34408; 2 specimens; 68.9–70.8 mm SL; Dandong, Liaoning Province, China.
Acanthogobius hasta: YSFRI 34422–34431; 10 specimens; 67.5–98.5 mm SL; Dandong, Liaoning Province, China.
Our sincere thanks should be given to Mingwei Zhang (Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China), who shared the specimens with us, and the whole staff of the Lanhai 101 for their help. Especially grateful to Prof. E Zhang of Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China (IHB), who provided constructive suggestions for this manuscript, and Dongming Guo for taking X-radiographs and Micro-CT images. Thanks to Xiao-dong Bian (Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences), for providing valuable advice and valuable materials. Thanks should be given to Junsheng Zhong, who provided kindhearted guidance for the observation of sensory canals and papillae. We thank Radford Arrindell (AMNH) for friendly help in providing photographs and X-radiographs. Special thanks go to Xiao Chen (Anhui Agricultural University), who provided friendly help with this manuscript. This research was funded by the National Key R&D Program (2018YFD0900803), National Marine Aquatic Germplasm Bank Project, Central Public-interest Scientific Institution Basal Research Fund, YSFRI, CAFS (NO.20603022022024). Data and samples were collected onboard of R/V “Lanhai 101” implementing the open research cruise NORC2022-01 supported by NSFC Shiptime Sharing Project (project number: 42149901).
Shufang Liu and Zhimeng Zhuang contributed to the design of the study. Shufang Liu supervised, reviewed, and edited the manuscript. Hongyue Sun, Changting An, and Kaiying Liu participated in the collection of specimens. Ang Li, Huang Wang and Busu Li provided constructive suggestions for this manuscript. Changting An analyzed the data and drafted the manuscript. Richard van der Laan provided many scientific suggestions and improved the English writing. All authors contributed to the writing of the paper.
All procedures described in this paper were in accordance with Chinese laws and were licensed by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People’s Republic of China.