A Revision of the Filefish Genera Amanses and Cantherhines

Abstract

share one or more of these characters with Amanses and Cantherhines. Eleven species of Cantherhines are recognized: longipinnis (endemic to Lord Howe Island); the Indo-Pacific dumerili (carolae and howensis are synonyms); macrocerus from the tropical western Atlantic Ocean (a large species long confused with pullus); multilineatus from Japan; fronticinctus from East Africa and the Indo-Malayan region; verecundus from Hawaii; tiki, a new species described from one specimen from Easter Island (unique in its produced snout and short first dorsal spine); melanoides from Queensland, Australia; sandwichiensis, a second Hawaiian endemic; the Indo-Western Pacific pardalis (a common species with 11 synonyms); and pullus, abundant on tropical Atlantic reefs. The last three species are closely related; all have 2 prominent white spots on the body, 1 at the posterior base of the soft dorsal fin and a small one at the posterior base of the anal fin. THE present study began with an attempt to determine whether the Atlantic monacanthid fish Cantherhines pullus (Ranzani) can be distinguished from the Indo-Western Pacific C. pardalis (Riippell) and to recover from synonymy the second Atlantic species of the genus, C. macrocerus (Hollard). The study was extended to a review of the genus which is here regarded as distinct from the monotypic Amanses. Eleven species of Cantherhines are reported, 1 of which from Easter Island is described as new.