First reliable record of Liparis punctulatus\n (Scorpaeniformes: Liparidae) in Korea

Abstract

A single specimen of Liparis punctulatus (30.9 mm standard length) belonging to the family Liparidae, was collected in the waters off Busan on 4 August, 2016. This species is characterized by a single pair of nostrils, unlike other Liparis species. It is distinguished from L. ochotensis by the numbers of dorsal, anal, pectoral fin rays and the location of the gill opening (above the pectoral fin in L. punctulatus vs. extending ventrally in front of the pectoral fin). In the molecular analysis, 514 bp of 16S rRNA gene of the specimen in this study were identical to that of L. punctulatus from NCBI GenBank (K2P distance < 0.002). This is the first record of the species in Korea based on a voucher specimen, and we follow the Korean name “Kko-ma-kkom-chi” for this species proposed by Myoung et al. and Kim et al.