New Deep-water Fish Records from the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Abstract

Eighteen new fish records for the Great Barrier Reef, including seven new records for Australia, are reported from line-fishing surveys in deeper waters (> 60 m) off the central and northern sections ofAustralia's Great Barrier Reef. The following 18 species represent new records for the Great Barrier Reef region, with the seven for Australia noted with an asterisk (*): the serranids *Epinephelus magniscuttis Postel et al., E. morrhua (Valenciennes), E. octofasciatus Griffin, E. radiatus (Day), and *Saloptia powelli Smith; the branchiostegid Branchiostegus wardi Whitley; the lutjanids Etelis carbunculus Cuvier, E. coruscans Valenciennes, E. radiosus Anderson, Paracaesio kusakarii Abe, *P. stonei Raj & Seeto, *Pristipomoides argyrogrammicus (Valenciennes), *P. auricilia (Jordon et al.), P.filamentosus (Valenciennes), *P.j1.avipinnis Shinohara, P. multidens (Day), and *P. zonatus (Valenciennes); and the lethrinid Wattsia mossambica (Smith). Further exploratory fishing effort along the Great Barrier Reef and in the Coral Sea is likely to result in discovery of more deep-water fish of Indo-Pacific distribution.