New Record of the Birdbeak Burrfish Cyclichthys orbicularis (Pisces: Diodontidae), in Korea

Abstract

A total of six specimens (57.03-100.72 mm in standard length) belonging to the family Diodontidae were collected around Jeju Island, Korea between July and August 2013. On the Basis of morphological and molecular analyses, we identified the specimens as Cyclichthys orbicularis (Bloch, 1785), a new record to the Korean fish fauna. Morphologically, the species is characterized by nine caudal fin rays, immovable spines on the head and body except the caudal peduncle, and small black spots dorsally. Some morphometric characters changed disproportionately with growth, which was a new finding. Caudal peduncle length, body width and preanus length to standard length tend to grow at a rate different from that of overall growth. When the 601 base pairs of mitochondrial DNA cytochrome c oxidase subunit I sequences of our specimens were compared with those of other diodontid fishes, our specimens clustered tightly around C. orbicularis (d = 0.000-0.002) in an NJ tree, with a high bootstrap value (99%). We herein describe the morphological and molecular traits of the specimens, and propose a new Korean name, “gud-ga-si-bok-sok” for the genus Cyclichthys, and “dung-geun-gud-ga-si-bok” for C. orbicularis.