A new sea catfish, Netuma patriciae (Siluriformes: Ariidae), from the Philippines

Abstract

A new sea catfish (Ariidae), Netuma patriciae, is described based on the holotype and nine paratypes, 127.3–303.4 mm in standard length, collected from Panay and Luzon islands, Philippines. The new species most resembles N. thalassina (Ruppell 1837), in sharing counts of anal-fin rays (17–19 in N. patriciae, 15–17 in N. thalassina) and a distinct dorsomedian head groove (longitudinal length of the groove, 33.7–40.1% of head length, 22.3–31.0%). However, the new species can be easily distinguished from the latter in having fused vomerine tooth patches, and more numerous free vertebrae (43–44 vs. 41–42 in N. thalassina). Although N. bilineata (Valenciennes in Cuvier and Valenciennes 1840a) has also fused vomerine tooth patches, the new species is distinguished by having fewer free vertebrae (43–44 vs. 47–51 in N. bilineata) and longer dorsomedian head groove (33.7–40.1% of head length vs. 0–9.7%). The new species can also be easily distinguished from both N. thalassina and N. bilineata by having a filamentous dorsal-fin ray (longest dorsal-fin ray 26.9–35.9% of standard length vs 20.3–23.3% in N. thalassina, 20.9–25.3% in N. bilineata, standard length > 127 mm) and a U-shaped junction of dorsomedian head ridge (vs. V-shaped in both species).