Revised diagnosis of the flathead genus Elates (Teleostei, Platycephalidae) and description of a new species collected from a fish market near Sarangani Bay, Philippines

Abstract

We revise the diagnosis of the flathead genus Elates Jordan & Seale, 1907 and describe a new species based on specimens purchased from a fish market in the southern Philippines. The new species differs from the only previously valid species in the genus, Elates ransonnettii (Steindachner, 1876), in having a large eye, a broad lateral vomerine tooth patch, a medial vomerine tooth patch, two pores on each lateral-line scale, a greater number of scale rows above the lateral line, an absence of a filamentous ray extending from the upper lobe of the caudal fin, a transparent dorsal-fin membrane with no dark pigmentation, and a wholly dark peritoneum.

Analysis of cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) data supports both genetic differentiation between E. ransonnettii and the new species as well as monophyly of the genus Elates. The new species is known only from specimens purchased in the General Santos Public Market in General Santos City caught in Sarangani Bay, in contrast to E. ransonnettii, which is broadly distributed in the western Pacific Ocean to the Malacca Strait and Andaman Sea.