Abstract
A new deepwater assfish, Bassozetus mozambiquensis sp. nov., is described from a single specimen (431 mm SL) collected from the western Indian Ocean. Originally identified as Bassozetus compressus (Günther 1878), it was subsequently found to be distinguishable from 12 valid species of the genus due to the following combination of characters: dorsal-fin rays 117; long rakers on first gill arch 14; oblique scales ca. 30; total vertebrae 65; pelvic-fin length 9.5 % of standard length; a single median basibranchial tooth patch; sagittal otolith lacking a small process on anterior margin, dorsal margin smooth, an ostial channel present.
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Acknowledgments
We are most grateful to the following for specimen loans: P.-L. Lin (ASIZP), J. Maclaine and T. Heath (BMNH), H. Endo and N. Nakayama (BSKU), P. Pruvost and R. Casse (MNHN), G. Shinohara (NSMT), D. Catania (CAS), J.T. Williams and S.J. Raredon (USNM) and J. G. Nielsen (ZMUC) and E.J. Hilton (VIMS). We also thank G.S. Hardy (Ngunguru, New Zealand) for his critical reading of the manuscript. This study was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for Promotion of Scientific Research (C) (no. 25450280) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan to the third author.
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This article was registered in the Official Register of Zoological Nomenclature (ZooBank) as E251AB3F-E979-448F-ABED-A9E3458B85D6.
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Tomiyama, S., Takami, M. & Fukui, A. A new deepwater assfish, Bassozetus mozambiquensis sp. nov. (Ophidiiformes: Ophidiidae), from the western Indian Ocean. Ichthyol Res 64, 13–17 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-016-0527-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-016-0527-6