Taxonomic Reassessment of Albula (Albuliformes: Albulidae) from Japan and Adjacent Waters with Reliable Records of Albula argentea, A. koreana and A. oligolepis from Japan

Abstract

A taxonomic review of Albula Scopoli, 1777 (Albuliformes: Albulidae) in Japanese and adjacent waters, based on morphology and mtDNA cytochrome b sequence data, resulted in the recognition of four species: Albula argentea (Forster, 1801), Albula glossodonta (Forsskål, 1775), Albula koreana Kwun and Kim, 2011, and Albula oligolepis Hidaka, Iwatsuki, and Randall, 2008. Although Japanese ichthyologists have long considered A . glossodonta and a second Albula species (re-ferred to by the Japanese name “Sotoiwashi”) to be distributed in Japanese waters, the latter having been reported as A . koreana or Albula sp. in recent literature, the present study revealed that, in fact, “Sotoiwashi” included three species, viz., A . argentea , A . koreana and A . oligolepis. Examined specimens of the latter three species represent the first reliable records of all three from Japanese waters, with comparative specimens of A . koreana from Vietnam and Malaysia also representing distributional range extensions (formerly known only from Korea and Taiwan). Albula koreana is readily distinguished from Japanese congeners by the striking yellow stripe on the cheek (just behind the mouth) in the former, a large dark blotch in front of the nostril, a dark oval blotch under an arc-shaped dark band on the snout tip, and greater numbers of body scales and vertebrae. As has been previously demonstrated, A . argentea and A . oligolepis are distinguished by pored lateral-line scale numbers (68–74 in the former vs. 61–67 in the latter) and total vertebrae (68–75 vs. 64–70). Updated distributional information shows A . argentea to be distributed from Indonesia east to French Polynesia, and north to Japan and Korea (there being no reliable records from Sri Lanka, Madagascar or the Hawaiian Islands); A . koreana in waters off Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam and Malaysia (east coast of Malay Peninsula); and A . oligolepis from the east coast of Africa to the Coral Sea, and north to Japan.