Two New Indo-Pacific Labrid Fishes of the Genus Halichoeres, with Notes on Other Species of the Genus

Abstract

Two new wrasses of the genus Halichoeres are described: H. chrysus, a bright-yellow species with one to three black spots in the dorsal fin and one at the upper base of the caudal fin, which occurs in the western Pacific and at Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean; and H. melasmapomus, which is distinctive in having a large blue-edged black spot on the opercle, and occurs in Oceania, the western Pacific, and at Christmas and Cocos-Keeling Islands in the Indian Ocean. Halichoeres leparensis is shown to be the female of H. argus. The male and female color phases of H. melanurus are differentiated. Halichoeres gymnocephalus is synonymized as the female of H. chloropterus and H. kawarin as the male of H. timorensis. The very different juvenile color patterns of H. podostigma and H. prosopeion are described.