Abstract
The present study was conducted to provide a comparative description of the caudal skeleton of the mullid fishes (family Mullidae) from the western Indo-Pacific region. Nine species belonging to three genera were studied, i.e., Mulloidichthys vanicolensis, Parupeneus heptacanthus, P. macronemus, P. margaritatus, P. rubescens, Upeneus doriae, U. sundaicus, U. tragula, and U. vittatus. Based on X-ray imaging, the configuration of the caudal skeleton and the caudal-fin formula are reported for all species. The new data reveal that the shape, size and degree of fusion of individual bones of the caudal skeleton and the caudal fin-ray formula can be different among genera, and also between congeneric species. The neural spine of PU2 is short in all species, except in P. macronemus. The hypural plates 1 and 2 are usually separated, but fused in M. vanicolensis and U. doriae. The hypural plates 3 and 4 are fused in all species except in P. rubescens. The parhypural is long and broad in all examined species, the highest relative length of the parhypural is present in P. macronemus. The uroneural 2 is absent in M. vanicolensis, U. doriae, U. tragula, and U. vittatus, but present in the remaining species. These differences indicate that the structures of the caudal skeleton are additional useful tools in the taxonomic study of mullid species.
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