The marine hogfish genus Bodianus has been revised and eight new species have been described.
Martin Gomon of the Museum Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, examined all of the species in the labrid genus Bodianus and found that it contained at least 43 species, eight of which are new to science.
Gomon's research shows that Bodianus, or hogfish as they are more commonly known to fishkeepers, are distributed through three major oceans in tropical and warm temperate areas and splits the genus into 10 subgenera, three of which - Priobodianus, Peneverreo and Paralepidaplois - are described for the first time.
The massive 133-page study has just been published in the journal Records of the Australian Museum and includes separate keys for identifying Bodianus species found in the Atlantic-eastern Pacific and Indo Pacific oceans.
Priobodianus
Priobodianus is restricted to the Western Pacific and contains two species, Bodianus cylindriatus and B. thoracotaeniatus.
Trochocopus
Trochocopus, which is found in the Indo West Pacific contains eight species, B. bimaculatus, B. izuensis, B. masudai, B. opercularis, B. sanguineus, B. tanyokidus and two new species, B. neopercularis and B. sepiacaudus.
Pseudolepidaplois
The subgenus Pseudolepidaplois is monotypic containing only Bodianus scrofa from the Eastern Atlantic.
Verreo
The Verreo subgenus contains one species from southwestern Australia, B. vulpinus and six from the Pacific, B. flavifrons, B. flavipinnis, B. frenchii, B. oxycephalus, B. unimaculatus and a new species called B. bathycapros which was discovered in the Hawaiian Islands.
Peneverreo
Bodianus paraleucosticticus from Papua New Guinea, B. leucostictus, B. trilineatus and a new fish caled B. rubrisos from Japan, Taiwan and Indonesia have been placed in a new subgenus called Peneverreo.
Paralepidaplois
The new subgenus Paralepidapolois contains three species, B. prognathus, the common aquarium hogfish Bodianus diana and a new species named Bodianus dictynna.
Lepidaplois
Three species, B. axillaris, B. mesothorax and B. neilli have been placed in the subgenus Lepidaplois.
Euphysocara
The Euphysocara subgenus is monotypic and contains the single species Bodianus anthioides.
Diastodon
Eight Indo Pacific species have been placed in Diastodon: B. albolineatus, B. bilunulatus, B. loxozonus, B. macrognathos, B. macrourus, B. perditio, B. speciosus and two new species B. busellatus and B. solatus.
Bodianus
The Bodianus subgenus is restricted to the Atlantic species B. insuaris, B. pulchellus, B. rufus and B. diplotaenia and B. eclancheri from the Eastern Pacific.
For more information see the paper: Gomon MF (2006) - A revision of the labrid fish genus Bodianus with descriptions of eight new species. Records of the Australian Museum, Supplement 30 (2006): 1-133.