Alloblennius anuchalis (Springer & Spreitzer 1978)

Anal fin of females with alternating dark and pale bands; anal fin of males with a broad, somewhat evenly dusky, marginal stripe. Presence of a supraorbital tentacle; with or without a nuchal cirrus; absence of canine tooth on posterior of lower jaw; brownish or reddish brown coloration lost after preservation (Ref. 27664).

Oviparous, distinct pairing (Ref. 205).

Dorsal spines (total): 12; Dorsal soft rays (total): 18 - 20; Anal spines: 2; Analsoft rays: 20 - 22

Oviparous. Eggs are demersal and adhesive (Ref. 205), and are attached to the substrate via a filamentous, adhesive pad or pedestal (Ref. 94114). Larvae are planktonic, often found in shallow, coastal waters (Ref. 94114).

Antennablennius anuchalis

DESCRIPTION (based on one male, 28.8 mm SL).—Dorsal fin XII, 20; terminal ray bound by membrane to caudal peduncle. Caudal fin: segmented rays 13, two dorsalmost and three ventralmost rays simple, remaining rays branched once; dorsal procurrent rays 8; ventral procurrent rays 7; ventral hypural plate and hypural 5 autogenous; epurals 2. Pectoral-fin rays 14-14. Pelvic fins 1,3; spine inapparent, innermost (third) segmented ray apparent. Vertebrae 10 + 29. Posteriormost epipleural rib on vertebra 14; posteriormost pleural rib on vertebra 10. Infraorbital bones 5-5. Total dentary incisoriform teeth 29; posterior canines probably absent (exceptionally small if present). Total premaxillary teeth 31.

Lateral line tubular, continuous, pores simple, terminating below vertical from base of sixth dorsal-fin spine. Median supratemporal commissural pores 9. Anteriormost (first) preopercular pore position with simple pore.

No fleshy median occipital crest on head. No nuchal or supraorbital cirri. Short, simple cirrus on posterior rim of anterior nostril; no cirri on posterior nostrils.

Many osteological characters were not examined for fear of damaging the only specimen.

Pigmentation (preserved): Head dotted with tiny melanophores, darker below and posterior to eye; lower half of cheek and opercle unpigmented; ventral surface unpigmented except for faint indications of one or two dusky chevronlike markings; slender dusky stripe extending across opercle ventrally onto branchiostegal membranes. Body pale with midlateral row of eight sparse patches of melanophores, suggesting bands; about five patches of melanophores dorsally along body contour. Slender, dusky bar on fleshy pectoral-fin base. Prepelvic area and bases of pelvic fins with sparsely distributed melanophores. Dorsal fin: spinous portion with three dusky, irregular bands and narrow, dusky distal margin that intensifies as black spot between first and second spines; segmented-ray portion with dusky spots, mainly overlying rays, aligned in stripelike rows. Anal fin with broad, dusky marginal band, ray tips unpigmented. Pectoral fin with small, faint patch of melanophores at base; posterior and ventral areas covered with sparsely distributed melanophores, remainder of fin unmarked. Caudal fin with three or four irregular, dusky bands.

ETYMOLOGY.—From the Greek prefix a- (now commonly used in combination with words derived from both Latin and Greek), meaning “without,” and the Latin nucha, meaning “nape,” in reference to the absence of nape cirri, exceptional for an Antennablennius species. The specific name is here used as a noun in apposition.

COMPARISONS.—Our assignment of anuchalis to Antennablennius is provisional. The only available specimen of anuchalis lacks both orbital and nape cirri, a condition known otherwise in the Salariini only in Ecsenius, Dodekablennos, and exceptionally in some females of Antennablennius bifilum. Antennablennius anuchalis differs from all Ecsenius species in having several branched caudal-fin rays (only simple rays in Ecsenius), no anterior canine teeth (both anterior and posterior canine teeth present in Ecsenius), and five infraorbital bones (four in Ecsenius). It differs from Dodekablennos in having 13 pectoral-fin rays (versus 12), the terminal anal-fin ray attached to the caudal peduncle by membrane (versus free from the caudal peduncle), fewer teeth (see description of Dodekablennos), more middorsal supratemporal commissural pores (9 versus 1), and in lacking a fleshy, bladelike occipital crest (present in males of Dodekablennos).

Aside from lacking nuchal cirri, A. anuchalis differs from all the other species of Antennablennius we have examined in having many more middorsal supratemporal commissural pores (1–4 pores in the other species).

Excluding anuchalis, there are 10 nominal species of Antennablennius, which genus has not been critically revised. We have examined the types of all but three of the nominal species: (1) A. variopunctatus (Jatzow and Lenz), for which the types are lost, but which was illustrated as having notably long nasal cirri (very short in anuchalis) and described as having 14 dorsal-fin spines (an unusually high number for any Antennablennius species, all of which usually have 12; the original description of A. variopunctatus may have been in error); (2) A. velifer Smith, a probable junior synonym of A. variopunctatus (we have examined specimens identifiable as A. velifer and they also have long nasal cirri, but only 12 or 13 dorsal-fin spines); and (3) A. sexfasciatus (von Bonde), which Smith (1949) synonymized with A. bifilum (Günther). Antennablennius anuchalis differs from A. bifilum, including its junior synonym, A. persicus (Günther), in having a less robust head: head depth in A. anuchalis is about 16 percent SL, whereas head depth is 20–21 percent SL in similar-sized specimens of A. bifilum.

Among the remaining nominal species of Antennablennius, anuchalis also differs from A. hypenetes (Klunzinger) and A. simonyi (Steindachner), and its junior synonym, A. girad Fraser-Brunner, in lacking a fleshy bladelike crest on top of the head. It also differs from A. australis Fraser-Brunner in having the nasal cirrus length much less than half the orbital diameter (versus more than half) and in having the head less deep (more than 20 percent SL in australis). It differs from A. adenensis Fraser-Brunner in lacking a filamentous first dorsal-fin spine, possibly an anomalous condition in the holotype of A. adenensis.

There is a possibility that A. anuchalis should be assigned to Alloblennius instead of Antennablennius. For discussion of this matter and the possibility that Alloblennius should be synonymized under Antennablennius see the discussion in the comparisons section under Alloblennius parvus.

HOLOTYPE.—RUSI 2136, male, 28.8 mm SL, Mauritius, 1.0 mi (0.6 km) E of Beauchamp on road near Jacotet Bay, 0.3 mi (0.18 km) E of Ste. Marie Bridge; water 76°F (24.4°C), slight current, no turbidity, clear; salinity, oceanic; major habitat, tide pool with deep vertical wall of rock, some sessile brown algae, bottom composed of volcanic and calcareous sand and rocks; depth, surface to 5 ft (1.5 m); originally fixed in 10% formalin and Ionol; 17 Mar 1971; T. H. Fraser; field number, THF-SA-29.

Dodekablennos, new genus

DIAGNOSIS (* indicates character for holotype of Dodekablennos fraseri, where variation is noted).—Dentary an open capsule with replacement teeth entering functional series through excavated area in jaw bone. Posterior dentary canine present. Premaxillary and dentary incisoriform teeth movable, 55–63* in upper jaw, 44–47* in lower jaw (based on four specimens, 26.5–38.5 mm SL). Vomer toothed. Dorsal fin XII, 19* or 20. Anal fin II, 21 (terminal pterygiophore supporting a single ray). Segmented caudal-fin rays 13, two to six branched at tips. Pectoral-fin rays 12. Pelvic fin I, 3 (spine inapparent, innermost ray apparent). Vertebrae 10 + 27* or 28. Posteriormost pleural rib on vertebra 11; posteriormost epipleural rib on vertebra 13* or 14. Terminal dorsal-fin ray bound by membrane to caudal peduncle; terminal anal-fin ray free of peduncle. Lateral line extending posteriorly to below vertical from base of dorsal-fin spine VIII–X*, consisting of long, continuous tube followed by few, short, isolated, bipored tubes. No scalelike flaps covering lateral-line pores. Preoperculomandibular pores without associated cirri. Single median supratemporal commissural pore. Single pore at anteriormost preopercular pore position. Upper lip without free dorsal margin anteriorly. No fleshy disk or appendage behind lower lip. Gill membranes forming free fold across isthmus (gill opening not restricted to side of head). Fleshy median crest on top of head of males, absent on female. Nuchal and supraorbital cirri absent. Simple cirrus present on posterior rim of anterior nostril; posterior nostril without cirri. No cirri on interorbital region. Postcleithra consisting of two elongate bones, dorsal end of ventral element overlapping ventral end of dorsal element. Lateral extrascapular not fused with pterotic. Median ethmoid present, ossified. Infraorbital bones 5. Rostral cartilage unossified. Frontals not ankylosed. Ventral hypural plate not fused to urostylar complex; hypural 5 autogenous; one or two epurals (if one, apparently result of fusion of two epurals). Nasal bones tubular, not modified for support of anterior nostril.

ETYMOLOGY.—From the Greek dodeka, meaning “twelve,” and blennos, meaning “blenny,” and referring to the characteristic dorsal-fin spine and pectoral-fin ray counts of 12; gender, masculine.

RELATIONSHIPS AND COMPARISONS.—Among the Salariini, only Dodekablennos and a few species (perhaps only one) of Istiblennius typically have so few as 12 pectoral-fin rays (the other species of Istiblennius usually have 14 rays; a count of 12 rays occurs only as an unusual individual variation in some species of the other salariinin genera). Dodekablennos is readily distinguished from all Istiblennius species in lacking nape and orbital cirri, and in having: many fewer than 65 teeth in each jaw (versus more than 150), vomerine teeth, only 12 dorsal-fin spines (versus usually 13), and only 2–6 branched caudal-fin rays (versus usually 9).

Dodekablennos is a specialized genus, and we do not believe it is closely related to Istiblennius or its allies (genera in groups 2, 5, 7, and 13 of Smith-Vaniz and Springer, 1971, fig. 51), all of which have nape cirri (primitive for the Salariini) and a large number of teeth in each jaw (specialized). Indeed, we have difficulty in allying it closely to any other salariinin genus, and it can be distinguished from each just as readily as it can be distinguished from Istiblennius.

The absence of both nape and orbital cirri in Dodekablennos (a specialized condition) occurs normally otherwise only in Ecsenius and, perhaps, the new species of Antennablennius (A. anuchalis) we describe above based on only one specimen. Aside from number of pectoral-fin rays, Dodekablennos differs from Ecsenius and Antennablennius and its relatives (genera in groups 15, 16, 20, and 21 of Smith-Vaniz and Springer, 1971, fig. 51, and Cirrisalarias Springer, 1976) in not having the terminal anal-fin ray bound by membrane to the caudal peduncle (an unspecialized condition) and in having 2–6 branched caudal-fin rays (0 in Ecsenius, typically 0 or 9 in the other genera of Salariini, except Praealticus, which has 0–9, usually 4–8). Males of Dodekablennos have a fleshy, bladelike crest on top of the head, which is lacking in both sexes of Ecsenius.

The following combination of characters will distinguish Dodekablennos from all other genera of Salariini: dorsal-fin spines 12, pectoral-fin rays 12; nape and orbital cirri absent; terminal anal-fin ray free (not bound by membrane to caudal peduncle); branched caudal-fin rays 2–6; fleshy, bladelike crest present on head of males; vomerine teeth present; less than 65 teeth in either jaw.

TYPE-SPECIES.—Dodekablennos fraseri, new species.

Alloblennius anuchalis is a species of combtooth blenny (family Blenniidae) in the genus Alloblennius. It is a tropical blenny found in the western Indian ocean, around Mauritius and Oman. Males can reach a maximum standard length of 2.4 centimetres (0.91 inches). The species is oviparous.