Three New Pinguipedid Fishes of the Genus Parapercis from Japan

Abstract

The fishes of the genus Parapercis are popularly known as sandperch in the United States, grubfish in Australia, and sandsmelt in South Africa. The genus is much the largest of the Pinguipedidae, the family name that replaced Parapercidae and Mugiloididae (Rosa and Rosa, 1987). Parapercis was described by Bleeker (1863: 236), who selected Sciaena cylindrica Bloch, 1792 as the type species. Cantwell (1964) was the first revisor of the genus, recognizing 27 species. Randall (1984) reviewed the genus, raising the number of species to 40. The number of newly discovered species of Parapercis is showing no sign of decline. With the description of 6 new species from the western Pacific (Randall, in press), the total number of valid species will be raised to 67, of which 2 are from the Atlantic, 1 from the eastern Pacific, and the rest from the Indo-Pacific region.