Plate 2

Sciaena mahsena Forsskål, 1775: 52, Red Sea; Smith, 1959: 287, pl. 23, type; Klausewitz & Nielsen, 1965: 21, pl. 21, type.
Lethrinus mahsena; Rüppell, 1840: 119, pl. 29, fig. 4, Red Sea; Klunzinger, 1870: 753, Red Sea; Günther, 1873-75: 65, pl. 48, Seychelles, Philippines, Palau Is., Fiji, Hervey, Paumotu Is.; Weber & Beaufort, 1936: 444, Red Sea; Smith, 1959: 289, compiled; Munro, 1967: 328, pl. 43, New Guinea; Sato, 1971:132, fig. 5, Ryukyus; Gushiken, 1972: 38, fig. 184, Okinawa Is.; Masuda et al., 1975: 59, fig. D, 233, southern Japan.
Lethrinus bungns Valenciennes in Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1830: 279, Suez, Massuah (Red Sea).
Lethrinus caeruleus Valenciennes in Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1830:301, Seychelles; Smith, 1959: 288, pl. 20, fig. B, pl. 25, fig. 9099, Seychelles, type; Kyushin et al., 1977: 158, Chagos, Sayade Malha.
Lethrinus abbreviatus Valenciennes in Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1830: 312, Red Sea.
Lethrinus atkinsoni Seale, 1909: 515, pl. 11, Balabac I. (Philippines).
Lethrinus haematopterus (not of Temminck & Schlegel); Herre & Montalban, 1927: 416, pl. 3, fig. 3, Philippines; Herre, 1936: 198, Solomon Is.; Shinohara, 1963: 45, fig. 9, Ryukyus; Masuda et al., 1975: 59, fig. C, southern Japan.
Lethrinus crocineus Smith, 1959: 290, pl. 21, figs. F, G, western Indian Ocean.
Lethrinus enigmaticus Smith, 1959: 291, pl. 21, fig. E, Bird Is. (Seychelles); Chikuni et al. (eds.), 1975: 73, fig. Md-37, Madagascar; Kyushin et al., 1977: 160, Chagos.
Lethrinus mahsenoides (not of Valenciennes); Akazaki, 1962: 243, fig. 42, Wakayama, Kagoshima, Amami Is., Okinawa (all in Japan).

Specimens examined.

Lectotype. —ZMK-P49346 (D, 131 mm standard length) from Red Sea, designated by Klausewitz & Nielsen (1965).
Paralectotype. —ZMK-P49347 (D, 146) from Red Sea.
Syntypes of Lethrinus caeruleus Valenciennes.-ZMK198 (182), MNHN9099 (2 individuals: 242, 260) from Seychelles.
ZMHU1144 (D, 350), 1143 (240), SMF3075 (D, 345), 5602 (220), MNHN9390 (1 of 2: 149), 9590 (1 of 2: 137), 4963 (179), BMNH71. 7. 15.21 (221) from Red Sea.
SMF2795 (D, 199) from Djetta, Red Sea.
SMF5564 (232) from Sarad-Sarso I., Red Sea.
SMF10898 (142) from Sarso I., Farasan Is., Red Sea.
ZMK4949 (220) from Mombasa.
BPBM14638 (172), 8560 (249), 10592 (320) from Palau I.
UMUTZ52748 (115), 52739 (201) from Cebu, Philippines.
FSFL-A1605 (284) from Madagascar.
MNHN9088 (206) from Reunion I.
UMUTZ52473 (95), 52477 (100), 52474 (102), 52476 (103), 52475 (103), 52502 (108), 52682 (135), 52501 (156), 52637 (160), 52524 (160), 52638 (165), 52516 (169), 17291 (170), 52639 (175), 52613 (207), 52545 (214), 52434 (220), 52612 (221), 52611 (228), 52610 (239), 52504 (268) from Ishigaki I., Ryukyus.
UMUTZ16869 (138), 17337 (172), 52609 (193), 53955 (208), 53954 (210), 53956 (224), 23535 (240) from Okinawa I., Ryukyus.

D. X, 9; A. III, 8; P₁. 13; P₂. I, 5; C. 8 + 7; L. lat. 46 to 48; Ltr. 5 or 6/i/14 or 15.

Proportional measurements of some specimens are shown in Table 7.

Head length less than body depth. Snout blunt. End of jaws usually on the vertical through posterior nostril. Interorbital area flat or a little convex. Third to sixth dorsal spines longest. 5 scale rows between lateral line and median dorsal spines. Some individuals have several extra half-scales hidden under the uppermost scale row. Inner base of pectoral densely covered with scales. Lateral teeth of jaws include molars in adults.

Color. —Olive-gray above, paler below. Lips fairly strong red. Red line backward from corner of mouth. Sometimes a yellow or white streak from eye forward through nostrils. A wide longitudinal yellow stripe or a yellow lattice (Fig. 16-B) sometimes present on side. Some populations of the Indian Ocean have a conspicuous red blotch on occiput (Smith, 1959: 289, pl. 20; Kyushin et al., 1977: 158). Anterior half of each scale black. Fins reddish, spinous portions, pelvic paler. Upper rim of pectoral and outer rim of pelvic blue or white. In paler specimens (as in life), the red at base of pelvic and anal conspicuous. Caudal except posterior margin yellowish.

Attains 500 mm in the western Indian Ocean (Smith, 1959).

Distribution. —Red Sea, East Africa to southern Japan, Polynesia.

Remarks. —The present species shows a fair degree of apparent variety in body shape. Fig. 16 illustrates the body shapes of three specimens. There is some pattern in the geographical distribution of body shapes. For example, individuals which have an extraordinarily deep head with a prominent occiput (Fig. 16-A) are rarely found in the Pacific Ocean, while they are rather abundant in the Red Sea or around the Chagos Islands. The causes of such variety remain an open problem.

The holotype of L. bungus which Ehrenberg donated to the Cabinet du Roi is not found in Paris at the present time. Though Valenciennes wrote that L. bungus was distinct from L. mahsena mainly in body shape, the present author believes that the two fishes are conspecific judging from Valenciennes's description and unpublished sketch of L. bungus.

Smith (1959) wrote that his L. caeruleus was characterized by a red blotch on the occiput which he said was not conspicuous in L. mahsena. Though the two species may be distinct from each other, the present author has not been able to find any other clear difference between these two species. He also suspects that the difference of head shapes between the two which Smith also emphasized is only an individual variation as has been mentioned above.

Valenciennes described L. abbreviatus on the basis of Ehrenberg's drawing of a fish of about 20 cm in total length. His description together with his unpublished sketch of the drawing shows an individual of L. mahsena with a body shape such as is shown in Figure 16-A. The large specimens brought to Berlin by Ehrenberg (ZMHU1143, 1144) also have a similar body shape.

According to Smith (1959), L. crocineus is different from L. mahsena in color and in scale row number between lateral line and median dorsal spines. He pointed out that his crocineus had an extra half scale hidden behind each scale of the apparent upper row. However, such a phenomenon has been observed in some of other species by the present author as an exceptional case. He believes that Smith's L. crocineus is merely a variant of L. mahsena and that the scale row number between lateral line and median dorsal spines is by no means an absolute key character.

Although the present author also believes that Smith's (1959) L. emgmaticus is conspecific with L. mahsena judging from his colored drawing, he counted 6 scale rows between the lateral line and median dorsal spines in that species as well.