<I>Fusigobius</I> Whitley, a Junior Synonym of The

BULLETIN OF MARINE SCIENCE. 56(3): 795-798, 1995

FUSIGOBIUS WHITLEY, A JUNIOR SYNONYM OF THE GOB liD FISH GENUS CORYPHOPTERUS GILL

John E. Randall

ABSTRACT The recent collection of gobiid specimens of Coryphopterus eidolon Bohlke and Robins in the Bahamas revealed a striking resemblance to species of the Indo-Pacific genus Fusi- gobius Whitley (1930), Suspecting that the genera Fusigobius and Coryphopterus (Gill, 1863) are synonymous, a comparison was made of the type species and other species of these two nominal genera, Fusigobius is placed in the synonymy of Coryphopterus,

The gobiid fish genus Coryphopterus was described by Gill (1863) for the single species C. glaucofraenum Gill (illustrated herein as Fig. 1 A). He did not list any type material. The type locality was given as Washington Territory. Ei- genmann and Eigenmann (1888) correctly assigned the species to the Atlantic fauna and described four specimens (MCZ 13212) collected in 1860 from the Tortugas, Florida. Bohlke and Robins (1960) regarded these four specimens as syntypes. Bohlke and Robins listed the following four junior synonyms of Coryphopterus glaucofraenum: Ctenogobius tortugae Jordan, Gobius translucens Nichols, Lo- phogobius pallidus Parr, and Ctenogobius transparentus Klausewitz. Garzon-Fer- reira and Acero (1990) resurrected C. tortugae; however, Smith- Vaniz and Bohlke (1991: 199, footnote) disagreed with their action after the examination of numer- ous museum specimens of C. glaucofraenum. Bean (1881) described Gobius nicholsii from British Columbia, now known to range south to Baja California. Hubbs (1926) created a new genus, Rhinogobiops, for Gobius nicholsii. Bohlke and Robins (1960) synonymized it with Corypho- pterus, noting that it stands apart from other species in the genus in fin-ray and scale counts. Of this species, Ray S. Birdsong (pers. comm., Sept. 1993) wrote, "All other temperate California goby genera (those occurring north of San Diego) have affinities with temperate western Pacific genera, and I suspect that C. nicholsii may also." Its early life history pattern is different, and Robins (pers. comm.) now also believes that the relationships of Rhinogobiops are with other temperature North Pacific gobies. Nine valid species of Indo-Pacific gobies have been mistakenly described in or reclassified in Coryphopterus; Gobius nudiceps Valenciennes, Gobius caffer Gunther, Gobius natalensis Gunther, Gobius agulhensis Barnard, Acentrogobius multifasciatus Smith, and Coryphopterus dubius Smith (all currently classified in Caffrogobius Smitt), Gobius caninus Valenciennes (now classified in Acentro- gobius Bleeker), Gobius criniger Valenciennes (now in Yongeichthys Whitley; Coryphopterus bernadoui Jordan and Starks is regarded as a synonym), and Gob- ius ocheticus Norman (now in Coryogalops Smith). Jordan et al. (1930) did not recognize any species of Coryphopterus in their checklist of the fishes of North and Middle America. They placed glaucofraenum in Rhinogobius Gill (1859), type species R. similis Gill, a Japanese freshwater goby now regarded as a junior synonym of R. brunneus (Temminck and Schlegel). Ginsburg (1938) described Coryphopterus urospilus from the Pearl Islands off the Pacific coast of Panama; there is no question of its placement in Coryphop- terus.

795 796 BULLETIN OF MARINE SCIENCE, VOL. 56, NO.3, 1995

Figure lA-D. A; Underwater photograph of Coryphopterus glaucofraenum, about 50 mm TL, Carrie Bow Cay, Belize (J. Randall). B; Underwater photograph of Coryphopterus eidolon, about 55 mm TL, Long Island, Bahamas (1. Randall). C; Underwater photograph of Coryphopterus sp. (formerly Fusigobius) about 60 mm TL, North Male Atoll, Maldive Islands (1. Randall). D; Underwater photograph of Coryphopterus sp. (formerly Fusigobius), about 50 mm TL, Manado, Sulawesi (1. Randall).

With the advent of SCUBA gear and the use of the ichthyocide rotenone, our knowledge of the Gobiidae and other small reef and shore fishes in tropical western Atlantic waters (and elsewhere) was greatly expanded. Springer (1960) described Coryphopterus punctipectophorus from specimens taken off John's Pass, west coast of Florida. Bohlke and Robins (1960) added the following four new species to the genus: C. dierus, C. alloides, C. thrix, and C. eidolon, all with type localities in the Bahamas. They listed 21 different characters (not necessarily synaptomorphic) that are shared by the eight species they recognized in the genus and provided a key to the species. Bohlke and Robins (1962) described two more new species in Coryphopterus, C. hyalinus (type locality, Cozumel, Mexico) and C. lipernes (type locality, Flor- ida Keys), and they allocated Eviota personata Jordan and Thompson (1905) (type locality, Tortugas, Florida) to Coryphopterus. These three small gobies all have their pelvic fins almost completely separated. Kathleen S. Cole is currently in- vestigating the possibility that C. hyalinus may be only a variant of C. personatus. In June 1993, while photographing Coryphopterus eidolon underwater in the Bahamas, I was surprised by its similarity to Indo-Pacific species of the genus Fusigobius Whitley (1930). It has the same general configuration of the head with the upper part of the eye extending above the dorsal profile, a median fleshy ridge on the nape extending forward from the origin of the first dorsal fin, and essen- tially the same color pattern: translucent with internal black axial blotches, small yellow spots and bands, a vertical blackish streak at the base of the caudal fin, RANDALL: FUS1GOBIUS 797

and a white streak extending from the base of the pectoral fin into the middle of the fin (Fig. 1B). Two specimens were collected and compared with specimens of species of Fusigobius in the Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu. Had I collected C. eidolon in the Indo-Pacific, [ would have classified it as a species of Fusigobius without hesitation. The question then arose: is eidolon the only species of Fusigobius in the Atlantic, or do other species of Coryphopterus, including the type species, share the characters of Fusigobius (in which case the latter becomes a junior synonym of the former)? Fusigobius contains four described species: F. neophytus (Gunther, 1877); F. Iongispinus Goren, 1978; F. duospilus Hoese and Reader, 1985; F. signipinnis Haese and Obika, 1988; and at least four undescribed species (Winterbottom and Emery, 1986: figs. 47-50, and Masuda et a!., 1988: pI. 240). Illustrations of two undescribed species of Fusigobius are shown herein (Fig. 1C, D). Comparison of specimens of C. glaucofraenum, C. dicrus, and C. alloides with specimens of the genus Fusigobius revealed no differences that could be regarded as generic. The similarity of features such as the squamation, pattern of sensory pores and papillae is striking. Birdsong et a!. (1988) studied the axial osteology of an estimated 75% of the recognized genera of gobioid fishes and approximately 30% of the species. They compared vertebral number, dorsal pterygiophore formula, the number of epurals, and the number of anal pterygiophores anterior to the first haemal spine. Both Coryphopterus and Fusigobius are in the large "Pri- olepis" group with 10 + 16 vertebrae, a dorsal pterygiophore formula of 3-22110, 1 epural, and 2 anal pterygiophores anterior to the first haemal spine. The species of Coryphopterus and Fusigobius share the same general habitat of sand or sand and rubble within or next to coral reefs from the shallows to about 30 m. Both genera contain species with fully fused pelvic fins as well as ones with nearly completely separated pelvics. Cole and Shapiro (1990) have shown that the New World species of Coryphopterus are protogynous hermaphrodites, and Cole (1990) noted that the one Indo-Pacific species of Fusigobius that she investigated is also protogynous. Cole (pers. comm., Sept. 1993) wrote that she re-examined her his- tological material of the gonads of F. neophytus (both male and female) and noted that they are "like those of Coryphopterus." The question then arose: of the 21 generic characters listed by Bohlke and Robins (1960) to define Coryphopterus, which are shared with Fusigobius, are there any which might be unique to these two genera? The fleshy ridge on the nape seemed to be a possibility, but it was soon noted that species of Oxyurichthys also exhibit this feature, an obvious convergence. With 214 valid genera of Go- biidae (Eschmeyer and Bailey in Eschmeyer, 1990) (Eleotriodes Bleeker, Fusi- gobius Whitley, Monishia Smith, and Oplopomops Smith present in Eschmeyer's list not included, due to recent synonymy), it is not surprising that finding shared derived characters among large genera may be difficult. Fusigobius is here placed in the synonymy of Coryphopterus. Seven other gobioid genera contain species in both the tropical western Atlantic and Indo- Pacific regions: Awaous, Bathygobius, Eleotris, Gnatholepis, Oxyurichthys (Doug- lass E Haese, pers. comm., August 1993), Priolepis, and Ptereleotris.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thanks are due R. S. Birdsong, K. S. Cole, D. F. Hoese, E. O. Murdy, C. R. Robins, and W. F. Smith-Vaniz for information pertinent to the preparation of this manuscript. J. T. Williams kindly lent specimens of Atlantic Coryphopterus from the National Museum of Natural History. The manuscript was reviewed by R. S. Birdsong, D. W. Greenfield, E. O. Murdy, C. R. Robins, V. G. Springer, and R. Winterbottom. 798 BULLETINOFMARINESCIENCE.VOL.56. NO.3. 1995

LITERATURE CITED

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DATEACCEPTED: March 22, 1994.

ADDRESS: (J.E.R.) Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Box 19000-A, Honolulu, Hawaii 96817; and Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawaii, Box 1346, Kaneohe, Hawaii 96744.