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Symphurus polylepis Lee & Munroe, 2021

Small-scale tonguefish
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drawing shows typical species in Cynoglossidae.


Papua New Guinea country information

Common names: Small-scale tonguefish
Occurrence: native
Salinity: marine
Abundance: | Ref:
Importance: | Ref:
Aquaculture: never/rarely | Ref:
Regulations: no regulations | Ref:
Uses: no uses
Comments: Type locality of Symphurus polylepis, north of Tovel. Collected from inshore sites offshore at Daru, and one offshore site north of Tovel (Ref. 126065).
National Checklist:
Country Information: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/pp.html
National Fisheries Authority: http://www.spc.org.nc/coastfish/Countries/PNG/png.htm
Occurrences: Occurrences Point map
Main Ref: Lee, M.-Y. and T.A. Munroe, 2021
National Database:

Common names from other countries

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Pleuronectiformes (Flatfishes) > Cynoglossidae (Tonguefishes) > Symphurinae
Etymology: Symphurus: Greek, syn, symphysis = grown together + Greek, oura = tail (Ref. 45335);  polylepis: Name from Greek 'poly' meaning many, and 'lepis' for scale, referring to the greater number of longitudinal scale rows compared with that of similar species of shallow-water tonguefishes..

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; demersal; depth range 0 - 23 m (Ref. 126065), usually 0 - 10 m (Ref. 126065).   Tropical

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Western Pacific: Papua New Guinea.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 5.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 126065); 3.5 cm SL (female)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal soft rays (total): 84 - 87; Anal soft rays: 68 - 74; Vertebrae: 46 - 48. is distinguished from all congeners by the combination of: ID pattern1-2-2-2-2 ; caudal-fin rays 12; vertebrae, 9 (3 +6) abdominal, 46-48 total; hypurals 4; D 84-87, A 68-74; longitudinal scale rows 88-94; transverse scale rows 32-34; scale rows on head posterior to lower orbit 17-19; fleshy ridge well developed on posterior part of ocular-side lower jaw; fleshy membrane covering both eyes; anterior margin of upper eye usually slightly in advance of anterior margin of lower eye; with fleshy flap continuous between ocular-side anterior nostril and anterior region of lower eye; upper head lobe is usually wider than lower head lobe; head length moderately long (HL = 21.9-23.8% of SL) and relatively large postorbital length (POL = 15.7-16.6% of SL, 69.3-73.3% of HL); preanal length relatively short (PAL = 23.5-24.6% of SL); snout short (SNL = 16.0-18.3% of HL, SNL/ED = 1.44-1.86), rounded to obliquely blunt anteriorly; head length usually shorter than head width (HW/HL= 1.02-1.14); dorsal-fin origin in posterior position at, or slightly posterior to, vertical through posterior margin of upper eye; predorsal length moderately long (PDL = 5.7-7.1% of SL; 24.4-31.4% of HL). Colouration: ocular side uniformly yellow to light-brown, blind side uniformly white, both sides with obvious dermal spots on bases of anteriormost dorsal- and anal-fin rays, and peritoneum bluish-black (Ref. 126065).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

More accurate information about geographic distribution, bathymetric distribution and substrata where this species is found needed to better understand the ecology, distribution and life history of this species (Ref. 126065).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturities | Reproduction | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Lee, M.-Y. and T.A. Munroe, 2021. Unraveling cryptic diversity among shallow-water tonguefishes (Pleuronectiformes: Cynoglossidae: Symphurus) from the Indo-West Pacific region, with descriptions of five new species. Zootaxa 5039(1):1-5.5 (Ref. 126065)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)


CITES (Ref. 128078)

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless




Human uses

FAO(Publication : search) | FishSource |

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Internet sources

Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | Faunafri | Fishtrace | GenBank(genome, nucleotide) | GloBI | GOBASE | | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Scirus | SeaLifeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia(Go, Search) | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoobank | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = No PD50 data   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.2   ±0.4 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Low vulnerability (10 of 100).