Memoirs of the Museum of Victoria 48(1): 27-29 (1987)
ISSN 0814-1827
NEW AUSTRALIAN FISHES. PART 8.
A NEW SPECIES OF AULOTRACHICHTHYS (TRACHICHTHYIDAE)
By M. F. Gomon and R. H. Kuiter
Department of Ichthyology, Museum of Victoria, 328 Swanston Street, Melbourne,
Victoria, 3000, Australia
Abstract
Gomon, M.F. and Kuiter, R.H., 1987. New Australian fishes. Part 8. A new species of Au-
lotrachichthys (Trachichthyidae). Mem. Mus. Vict. 48: 27-29.
Aulotrachichthys, presented by Fowler (1938) as a subgenus of the trachichthyid
Paratrachichthys, is here recognised as a separate genus. A new species, Aulotrachichthys pulsa-
tor, from South Australian waters, is described. It is distinguishable from other congeners by
various combinations of its body form, eye size, extent of striated tissue and meristic values.
Introduction
Nine species of roughy, family Trachichthyidae,
are currently placed in the genus Paratrachichthys
Waite, 1899 (Gon, 1983; Kotlyar, 1980). These
species are separable into two natural groups on
the basis of the presence or absence of striated
luminous tissue on the head, pectoral-fin base
and lower portion of the sides. The two groups
are here recognized as distinct genera.
Paratrachichthys, which lacks striae, comprises
two described species, and Aulotrachichthys
(Fowler, 1938), which has striae, comprises seven
described species. During a collecting trip to the
Investigator Group of islands at the eastern end
of the Great Australian Bight, the second author
acquired a series of a distinctive undescribed spe-
cies referrable to this genus. The species is the
shallowest dwelling member of the genus known
to date. Type specimens are lodged in the
Museum of Victoria (NMV) and the South Aus-
tralian Museum (SAM A).
Aulotrachichthys Fowler
Paratrachichthys (Aulotrachichthys) Fowler, 1938: 40.
Type species. Paratrachichthys latus Fowler, 1938,
by original designation.
Discussion. Aulotrachichthys has been consis-
tently regarded as a subgeneric taxon, as origi-
nally proposed, or ignored by authors treating
species referrable to it. A recent examination of
the closely related, but distinctive Sorosichthys
ananessa Whitley, 1945, revealed the presence of
striated luminous tissue in the same configura-
tion as found in species referrable to Au-
lotrachichthys. In addition, S. ananessa has the
anus positioned between the bases of the pelvic
fins as do the nine species currently in
Paratrachichthys, but unlike all other
trachichthyids. As the striated tissue is a unique
structure unlikely to have evolved independently
in Sorosichthys and those species referrable to
Aulotrachichthys, it is hypothesized that the two
groups share an immediate common ancestry
which excludes species currently placed in
Paratrachichthys without striae. Aulotrachichthys
is therefore regarded as a generic taxon closely
related to Paratrachichthys and Sorosichthys. Au-
lotrachichthys is most easily separable from
Paratrachichthys by the diagnostic characters
given by Fowler in his original description, "the
presence of the subcutaneous silvery-grey striated
tubes and areas along lower surface of body". In
other aspects, the two genera are very similar.
Aulotrachichthys pulsator sp. nov.
Figure 1
Material examined. Holotype: South Australia, Investigator
Group, Topgallant Island (33°43'S, 134°38'E), 25 m, rocky
reef, rotenone, R.H. Kuiter, 1 Apr 1982, NMV A3726 (64.3
mm SL).
Paratypes: Collected with holotype, NMV A3727 (14 specs.,
27
BioStor
