TY - JOUR AU - Fricke, Ronald AU - Ramírez-Amaro, Sergio AU - Ordines, Francesc PY - 2023/03/30 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Revalidation of Arnoglossus blachei, a species of flounder from off West Africa, with a redescription of Arnoglossus imperialis from the northeastern Atlantic and Mediterranean (Teleostei: Bothidae) JF - Scientia Marina JA - Sci. mar. VL - 87 IS - 1 SE - Articles DO - 10.3989/scimar.05347.056 UR - https://scientiamarina.revistas.csic.es/index.php/scientiamarina/article/view/1945 SP - e056 AB - <p class="p1">&nbsp;</p><p class="p2"><span class="s1"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span>Blache’s flounder, <em>Arnoglossus blachei </em>Stauch, 1965, is redescribed from the eastern Atlantic (Morocco south to Namibia, including the Canary Islands, larvae reaching South Africa) and distinguished from the imperial flounder <em>A. imperialis </em>(Rafinesque, 1810) by having a live colouration of the lower side of males which is bright red (whitish in <em>A. imperialis</em>), the caudal fin with lateral-line scales 52-57 (vs. 58-63), and the dorsal-fin filaments in male light grey, with black margins, distally yellowish (vs. plain white). A lectotype is selected for <em>Arnoglossus blachei</em>. The species is compared with similar species. The externally similar species <em>Arnoglossus imperialis </em>is also redescribed; its distibution range is restricted to the Mediterranean and northeastern Atlantic, including Madeira and the Azores. Neotypes are selected to stabilize the usage of the names <em>Bothus imperialis </em>Rafinesque, 1810, <em>Bothus punctatus </em>Rafinesque, 1814, <em>Rhombus cristatus </em>Lowe, 1839 and <em>Charybdia rhomdoidichthys </em>Facciolà, 1885. Molecular analyses based on two mitochondrial fragments (<em>12s rRNA </em>and <em>COI</em>) clearly support the validity of <em>A</em>. <em>blachei</em>. Moreover, though <em>A. blachei </em>is morphologically close to <em>A. imperialis</em>, the two species show the highest genetic distances among all <em>Arnoglossus </em>species compared (including <em>A. capensis</em>, <em>A. imperialis</em>, <em>A. laterna</em>, <em>A. rueppelii </em>and <em>A. thori</em>). A key to the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean species of <em>Arnoglossus </em>is presented.</p> ER -