Symphurus bathyspilus: A New Cynoglossid Flatfish (Pleuronectiformes: Cynoglossidae) from Deepwaters of the Indo-West Pacific

Symphurus bathyspilus, which attains standard lengths up to 121 mm, is described on the basis of 84 specimens collected in deep waters (248-500 m) in the Philippine Archipelago and off Indonesia. This species is characterized by the combination of a predominant 1-2-2 pattern of interdigitation of dorsal pterygiophores and neural spines; 14 caudal-fin rays; 91-100 dorsal-fin rays; 78-87 anal-fin rays; 50-54 total vertebrae; five hypurals; black peritoneum; uniformly bright reddish-brown (freshly captured) to darker reddish-brown ocular side sometimes with faint incomplete cross-bands; uniformly yellowish to straw-colored blind side with numerous small reddish-brown speckles overlying regions of proximal pterygiophores of the blind sides of the dorsal and anal fins; with dorsal and anal fins darker reddish-brown anteriorly, gradually fading to a pale reddish color in their posterior regions; and with the outer surface of the ocular-side opercle yellowish with reddish-brown speckles. Among congeners, the new species is most similar in some meristic features to those of Symphurus woodmasoni but differs markedly in its ocular- and blind-side coloration, in the pigmentation of its dorsal, anal, pelvic, and caudal fins and its yellowish and speckled ocular-side outer opercular surface.