Two New Species of Pachycara Zugmayer (Teleostei: Zoarcidae) from the Indian Ocean, with Redescription of Pachycara shcherbachevi Anderson
During the multidiciplinary BIGSET (Biogeochemische Stoff- und Energietransporte in der Tiefsee/Biogeochemical Transport of Matter and Energy in the Deep Sea) programme 1995 and 1998 in the abyssal Arabian Sea, 33 specimens of Pachycara Zugmayer, 1911 were collected. Until then, a single trawl-damaged specimen of Pachycara shcherbachevi Anderson, 1989, caught in 1951 by the Danish research vessel Galathea, represented the only evidence of lycodine eelpouts in the Indian Ocean. One of the newly caught specimens belongs to P. shcherbachevi and provides the basis of a revised description of the species. The rest of the material belong to two different species, which are described here as new.Abstract
Sampling sites of Pachycara andersoni n. sp. (×), Pachycara arabica n. sp. (▪), and Pachycara shcherbachevi Anderson, 1989 (•)
(A) Pachycara andersoni n. sp., holotype, ZMUC P764687, 193 mm SL, male, Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea. (B) Outline drawing of same specimen indicating lateral line configuration
(A) Pachycara arabica n. sp., holotype, ZMH 9199, 304 mm SL, sex unknown, Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea. (B) Outline drawing of same specimen indicating lateral line configuration
(A) Pachycara shcherbachevi Anderson, 1989, nontype, ZMH 9204, 272 mm SL, female, Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea. (B) Outline drawing of same specimen indicating lateral line configuration