Two New Goatfish Species of the Upeneus sulphureus-Species Group (Mullidae), with a Redescription of U. sulphureus Cuvier, 1829 and a Review of Barbel Length in the Genus

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For the goatfish genus Upeneus, the new sulphureus-species group is established, which includes five species, U. doriae, U. nigromarginatus, U. sulphureus, and the two new species, U. alama and U. brevianalis. This taxonomic group differs from the other seven species groups and four ungrouped species of this genus in the following combination of characters: 8 dorsal-fin spines, 14–17 pectoral-fin rays, 25–33 total gill rakers, 32–37 lateral-line scales, and lack of bars on caudal fin. Upeneus sulphureus is redescribed based on examination of a large set of morphometric, meristic, and color characters in 211 specimens, which revealed a bimodal distribution in barbel length prompting separation into short- and long-barbel morphs. This bimodality was neither sex-, size-, nor population-dependent, but found in co-occurring individuals of U. sulphureus in many areas of its distributional range from East Africa to Japan. The two new species differ from all other congeners primarily in U. alama, new species, having longer barbels (28–30% SL) and U. brevianalis, new species, having a shorter and shallower anal fin (8.1 and 12% SL, respectively) as well as a broad, dark-brown vertical band along the anterior third of the first dorsal fin. For U. nigromarginatus, new records from Papua New Guinea, Indonesia (West Papua), and three areas of the Philippines north of Mindanao are reported. For U. doriae, U. sulphureus, and Mulloides pinnivittatus, the latter a junior synonym of U. sulphureus, lectotypes are designated. An updated account for the genus Upeneus is provided. The barbel-length data of all 53 species of Upeneus are reviewed, and the finding of a wide range combined with a distinct dimorphism of this character in U. sulphureus is discussed.

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