NK HAMILTON TALBOT AND MARY-LOUISE PENRITH

CTENOGOBIUS CLOATUS SMITH, 1960
A SYNONYM OF CTENOGOBIUS SALDANHA
(BARNARD, 1927)

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CTENOGOBIUS CLOATUS SMITH, 1960, ASYNONYM OF CTENOGO-
BIUS SALDANHA (BARNARD, 1927)

By
FRANK Hamitton TALBoT and MaAry-LouIsE PENRITH

South African Museum, Cape Town

(With 2 figures in the text and 1 plate)

CONTENTS

PAGE
Introduction ; ; ; ‘ 189
Description of Ctenogobius saldanha . 190
Discussion . : : : : IQI
Acknowledgements P ; : 192
Summary . é : : 6 192
References . : : : : 193

INTRODUCTION

New material in the South African Museum fish collections from Port
Elizabeth, False Bay, and Saldanha Bay, has shown clearly that Ctenogobius
cloatus Smith, described from Knysna, and Cienogobius saldanha (Barnard),
described from Saldanha Bay, are synonymous.

The material examined is as follows:

S.A.M. 23277: 1 specimen, 79 mm., tidal swimming pool, St. James, False Bay;
S.A.M. 21488: 1 specimen, 33 mm., shallow water, Langebaan, Saldanha Bay;
S.A.M. 21489: 1 specimen, 30 mm., shallow water, Langebaan, Saldanha Bay;
S.A.M. 21490: 2 specimens, 34-37 mm., shallow water, Langebaan, Saldanha
Bay;

S.A.M. 22034: I specimen, 40 mm., inter-tidal pool, Sea Point, Table Bay;
S.A.M. 17355: 1 specimen, 85 mm., Saldanha Bay (type of saldanha Barnard) ;
S.A.M. 23832: 6 specimens, 28-34 mm., dredged in 7 m. water, Saldanha Bay;
S.A.M. 23831: 4 specimens, 51-61 mm., inter-tidal pools, Port Elizabeth;
S.A.M. 24047: 4 specimens, 46-5-54 mm., tidal swimming pool, Port Elizabeth;
S.A.M. 24048: 3 specimens, 45:5-50 mm., inter-tidal pools, Port Elizabeth;
S.A.M. 23979: 3 specimens, 53-79 mm., inter-tidal pool, Strandfontein, False

Bay;
S.A.M. 24049: 2 specimens, 67 mm., 70 mm., inter-tidal pool, Strandfontein,

False Bay;

Rhodes Univ.: 1 specimen, 85 mm., lagoon, Knysna (type of cloatus Smith).

189
j a
Ann. S. Afri. Mus. 48 (8), 1964, 189-193, 2 figs., 1 pl.

1

190 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

Ctenogobius saldanha (Barnard)
(pl Sie figss 1572)
Gobius saldanha Barnard, 1927, p. 823.
Bathygobius saldanha (Barnard), Smith, 1949, p. 331.
Monishia saldanha (Barnard), Smith, 1960, p. 304.
Ctenogobius cloatus Smith, 1960, p. 302.

Fin counts: D. VI + I 10-11; A. I 9-10; P. 19-23; C. 15 (branched rays
only). Gill-rakers: 6—7 on lower arch, total 9. Scales 34-38, transverse 11. Depth
4:9-6:8. Head 3:0-3:6 in standard length. Teeth in jaw in several series;
outer row markedly enlarged, inner rows viliform, no canines. ‘Tongue truncate
or feebly bilobed. Pectoral girdle without flaps, but with a low, indented
ridge on the anterior border. Pectoral fin with upper 3-4 rays free, silk-like,
markedly bifurcating (fig. 1). Pelvic fraenum (i.e. membrane connecting
outer rays across base) strong and well developed (fig. 1). Eye 2-9-3:7 in
head. Bony interorbital narrow, less than 5 in eye diameter, eyes adjacent.
Pores and papillae of head shown in fig. 2.

Ground colour whitish, with three very broad, irregular, faintly dusky
cross-bars on body. Sides irregularly spotted with black. Underparts white.
Nape dusky with a lighter transverse bar. Head whitish grey. A few small dark

C\

FIGURE I.

Pectoral fin and pelvic fraenum of Ctenogobius saldanha (Barnard) from (a) Port Elizabeth;
standard length 45.5 mm., (6) Saldanha Bay; standard length 35 mm., and (c) Knysna (type
of cloatus Smith) ; standard length 85 mm. The fin is more contracted in (c) than in (a) and (6).

CTENOGOBIUS CLOATUS SMITH 19gi

spots on preopercle, and usually four in a straight line along hind margin of
opercle. Pectoral base dusky with several dark spots. Dorsal fins dusky with
rows of black dots forming bands. A large black spot on the membrane between
the fourth and fifth and the fifth and sixth dorsal spines. Pectoral, pelvic, anal
and caudal fins dusky.

Head, nape, preopercle, and opercle naked; pectoral base, prepelvic, and
belly with cycloid scales.

FIGURE 2.

Diagram of pores and papillae on head of Ctenogobius saldanha (Barnard).

DIscussION

A re-examination of the type of saldanha shows certain errors in the original
description. The outer row of teeth in each jaw is clearly enlarged (not villiform
throughout) ; there are 11 series of scales between the first anal spine and the
dorsal fin base, not 10 as stated in Barnard’s description; and the bases of the
pectorals are scaled.

Smith’s description of cloatus indicates the following differences from
saldanha: strong development of the pelvic fraenum, absence of free upper
pectoral rays in his specimens, enlargement of the outer row of teeth, number
of transverse scale rows, shape of the tongue, and distribution.

The pelvic fraenum of saldanha shows no differences from that of the type
of cloatus (fig. 1). In both cases the fraenum is well developed.

Smith’s type has ragged fins with many rays broken off, and the fin
membranes are damaged. Nevertheless, this specimen has the upper pectoral

192 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

‘rays very similar to those of saldanha (fig. 1) (both the type of saldanha and fresh
specimens from the type locality). In addition, South African Museum speci-
mens from Port Elizabeth have the upper rays similar to those of the type of
saldanha.

The apparent differences in teeth and in number of transverse scale
rows fall away after re-examination of the type of saldanha.

The tongue in both cloatus and in specimens of saldanha from the type
locality is truncate or feebly bilobed. It is not adnate, and Barnard (1927)
seems to have been correct in his suggestion that the apparently adnate tongue
of the type was due to the fact that the specimen was preserved with the mouth
unusually widely opened. Dehydration may also have played a part in this,
and in the shrinkage of the tongue, which has obscured its shape.

Béhlke & Robins (1960) have shown that the pore system of the head is
important in the classification of gobies. This was found to be identical in all
specimens examined, including Smith’s type specimen of Ctenogobius cloatus
(fig. 2).

As has been found in another intertidal group of fishes, the Clinidae, and
in gobies such as Psammogobius knysnaensis Smith and Coryphopterus nudiceps
(C. & V.), distribution around the Cape from at least as far west as Saldanha
Bay to Algoa Bay or farther occurs commonly.

We can find no difference between east and west coast specimens, and
conclude that cloatus and saldanha are synonymous.

The well-developed fraenum, presence of prepelvic scales, naked head
and nape, scale and fin counts, narrow bony interorbital, enlarged outer teeth,
tongue shape, and restricted gill openings, place this species within the genus
Ctenogobius Gill, 1858, as defined by Koumans (1953).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Acknowledgement is made to Professor J. L. B. Smith of the Department
of Ichthyology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, for the loan of the type
specimen of cloatus, and to Miss R. M. Tietz, of the Port Elizabeth Museum,
and Mr. M. J. Penrith of the South African Museum, who assisted in the
collection of fresh material.

The Trustees of the South African Museum are grateful to the Council
for Scientific and Industrial Research for the award of a grant to publish
this paper.

SUMMARY

It is shown that Ctenogobius cloatus Smith is synonymous with Ctenogobius
saldanha (Barnard) (Pisces: Gobiidae). Ctenogobius saldanha is redescribed.

CTENOGOBIUS CLOATUS SMITH 193

REFERENCES

BARNARD, K. H., 1927. A monograph of the marine fishes of South Africa Part II. Ann. S. Afr.
Mus. 21: 419-1065.

BOHLKE, J. E., & Rosins, C. R. 1960. A revision of the gobioid fish genus Coryphopterus. Proc.
Acad. nat. Sci. Philad. 112: 103-128.

Koumans, F. P. 1953. The fishes of the Indo-Australian archipelago. X. Gobioidea. Leiden: E. J. Brill.

Siru, J. L. B. 1959. Gobioid fishes of the families Gobiidae, Periophthalmidae, Trypauchenidae,
Taenioididae, and Kraemeriidae of the Western Indian Ocean. Ichthyol. Bull. 13: 185-225.

Situ, J. L. B. 1960. Fishes of the family Gobiidae in South Africa. Ichthyol. Bull. 18: 299-314.

Ann. S. Afr. Mus., Vol. XLVIIT Plate IV

ius saldanha (Barnard).

Ctenogob

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Smitu, A. B. 1956. New Plonia species from South Africa. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (12) 9: 937-945.

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SmirH, C. D. 1954. South African Plonias. In Brown, X. Y. Marine faunas. 2nd ed. 3: 63-95.
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SYNONYMY

Arranged according to chronology of names. Published scientific names by which a species
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Examples: Plonia capensis Smith, 1954: 86, pl. 27, fig. 3. Green, 1955: 23, fig. 2.

When transferred to another genus:
Euplonia capensis (Smith) Brown, 1955: 259.
When misidentified as another species:
Plonia natalensis (non West), Jones, 1956: 18.
When another species has been called by the same name:
[non] Plonia capensis: Jones, 1957: 27 (= natalensis West).

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