Odontanthias tapui (Randall, Maugé & Plessis 1979)

Summary:

A violet and bright yellow anthiid with a bright yellow mask on the head above the upper jaw, bright yellow spots on the back, a violet dorsal fin with yellow filamentous rays and a bright yellow submarginal band in the spinous portion of the fin. The species also has a bright yellow caudal fin with a violet submarginal band, and very long caudal-fin lobes with violet upper and lower margins, a violet pectoral fin with a broad median yellow band, and violet pelvic and anal fins.

Cite this page as:

Bray, D.J. 2025, Odontanthias tapui in Fishes of Australia, accessed 27 Jun 2025, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/Home/species/5772

Odontanthias tapui (Randall, Maugé & Plessis 1979)

More Info

Distribution	Reefs in the Coral Sea, Australia, including Osprey Reef, Holmes Reef, Willis Islet, Diamond Islets and Magdelaine Cays. Elsewhere, the species occurs in the South Pacific: America Samoa, Tonga, the Cook Islands, and French Polynesia - the Society Islands, the Tuamotu Archipelago, and the Austral Islands.
Features	Dorsal fin X,16; Anal fin III,7; Pectoral fin 16 (upper two unbranched); Pelvic fin 1,5; Caudal fin principal rays 15 (upper and lower unbranched), procurrent rays upper and lower 6; Lateral-line scales 37-40; Scales above lateral line to origin of dorsal fin 7-8; Scales below lateral line to origin of anal fin 20-22; Circumpeduncular scales 24; Gill rakers 13-15 + 29-32; Pseudobranch lamellae about 20; Vertebrae 9+17. Body oval, moderately deep, depth 2.33-2.44 in SL; head length 2.85`2.9 in SL. Caudal fin extremely lunate with greatly prolonged lobes, longest ray 1.3~1.6 in SL, the caudal concavity l.7~2.4 in SL. No elongate dorsal-fin spines, the fourth and tenth spines subequal; third dorsal, second anal, and second pelvic-fin rays produced; small scales dorsally on snout extending anterior to nostrils.
Colour	Fresh coloration: Violet, each scale in the diagonal rows above the pectoral fin and above the lateral line with a bright yellow spot (spots small posteriorly, progressively larger anteriorly, unit on nape the scales are almost entirely yellow); head above a diagonal in line with upper edge of maxilla bright yellow except for most of opercular membrane which is violet; front of upper lip yellow; dorsal fin violet except for elongate distal parts of soft rays which are bright yellow and a yellow band in spinous portion of fin which commences near base of second spine and rises gradually to a submarginal position as it leaves spinous portion to link with the yellow of the prolonged third soft ray; anal and pelvic fins light violet, faintly suffused with yellow; caudal fin bright yellow except upper and lower margins which are violet (violet not extending to tips of caudal lobes) and a pale crescentic area with an inner margin of violet posteriorly in central part of fin; pectoral fins light violet with a broad median zone of yellow (solid yellow basally but continuing only on rays nearly to distal margin).
Biology	A protogynous hermaphrodite, changing sex from female to male during the life cycle.
Etymology	The species is named in honour of Jean Tapu of the Service des Peche in Papeete, Tahiti, who provided the authors with the holotype, along with colour photographs.
Species Citation	Holanthias tapui Randall, Maugé & Plessis 1979, Japanese Journal of Ichthyology 26(1): 20, Fig. 3. Type locality: Society Islands, Tahiti, about one-third mile offshore from Vairao fringing reef (south coast of Tahiti), depth about 300 m.
Author	Bray, D.J. 2025
Resources	Atlas of Living Australia Australian Faunal Directory Catalog of Fishes

Odontanthias tapui (Randall, Maugé & Plessis 1979)

References

Heemstra, P.C. & Sadovy, Y.J. 2010. Odontanthias tapui (errata version published in 2017). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2010: e.T158625A115302456. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-4.RLTS.T158625A5242555.en. Accessed on 25 June 2025.

Randall, J.E. & Heemstra, P.C. 2006. Review of the Indo-Pacific fishes of the genus Odontanthias (Serranidae: Anthiinae), with descriptions of two new species and a related genus. Indo-Pacific Fishes 38: 1-32.

Randall, J.E., Maugé, A.L. & Plessis, Y.B. 1979. Two new anthiine fishes of the genus Holanthias from the southern and western Pacific. Japanese Journal of Ichthyology 26(1): 15-25 https://doi.org/10.11369/jji1950.26.15

Siu, G., Bacchet, P., Bernardi, G., Brooks, A.J., et al. 2017. Shore fshes of French Polynesia. Cybium 41(3): 245–278 https://doi.org/10.26028/cybium/2017-413-003

Tea, Y.K., Sih, T.L., Walsh, F., Bennett, T., et al. 2025. New records of fishes from the Coral Sea Marine Park, Australia. Coral Reefs https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-025-02664-3

White, W.T. 2011 Odontanthias randalli n. sp., a new anthiine fish (Serranidae: Anthiinae) from Indonesia. Zootaxa 3015: 21-28. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3015.1.3