Kanekonia leichhardti, a new species of velvetfish (Actinopterygii: Scorpaeniformes: Aploactinidae) from the Gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland, Australia)

Abstract

Kanekonia leichhardti, new species, is described from three specimens dredged on soft bottom in the eastern Gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland, Australia. It is distinguished from its three congeners by a combination of mostly smooth skin with minute, sparsely distributed velvety scales, long snout, narrow head and body, slightly notched predorsal profile, low anal-fin ray and lateral-line tube count, and distinctive configuration of the interorbital ridges (interorbital ridges not prominently sculptured, converging anteriorly to form an inverted Y shape, the symphysis above a vertical from the middle of the eye, and continuing as a single ridge to the base of the first dorsal-fin spine). The species appears to be rare and possibly endemic to the waters of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Wide-ranging surveys conducted with similar gear on the north-west shelf of Western Australia and coastal and inter-reef soft bottom habitats from Torres Strait south throughout the entire length of the Great Barrier Reef have failed to collect any further specimens.