Kwang-Tsao Shao

• Academia Sinica

Two new species similar to Ophichthus megalops Asano, 1987 with dark-tipped anal fins, are described on the basis of one specimen of each species. Ophichthus semilunatus sp. nov. from northeastern Taiwan is characterized by having 176 total vertebrae, three rows of teeth on the maxilla, one + three supraorbital pores, two preopercular pores, a brow...

Two new species of deep-sea anglerfishes are described on the basis of specimens collected from off northeastern Taiwan. Oneirodes formosanus sp. nov., based on one adult female, differs from its congeners in having a deep caudal peduncle (15.4% SL) and esca with a single simple, elongate, unbranched, internally pigmented, anterior escal appendage;...

The present study recorded the population of the goby fish (Perciformes: Gobiidae), Eutaeniichthys cf. gilli Jordan & Snyder, 1901, from the tunnel burrowed by the mud shrimp Austinogebia edulis Ngo-Ho and Chan, 1992 in a mudflat in Shengang and Wangong of Changhua County, western Taiwan. This finding is not only a new record of the genus in Taiwan...

Treated sewage discharge has been reported to affect multiple levels of biological organization in fish and fish community structure. In this study, a split-plot ANOVA design was used to test species diversity of fish assemblages in Taiwan. The samples were collected seasonally, from 2005 to 2016, at three different stations near the ocean outfall...

Shih-Pin Huang, I-Shiung Chen, Yahui Zhao, and Kwang-Tsao Shao (2018)Microphysogobio luhensis n. sp., a new cyprinid species, is described from the Rongjiang River in eastern Guangdong Province, China. Morphological characters and molecular evidence based on mitochondrial DNA Cytochrome b (Cyt b) and Cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) sequences wer...

It is well known in aquaculture that hyperthermic perturbations may cause skeleton malformations in fish, but this phenomenon has rarely been documented in wild species. One rare location where thermal pollution has increased the proportion of malformed fish in wild population is in the waters near the Kuosheng Nuclear Power Plant in Taiwan. At thi...

Long-term time series datasets with consistent sampling methods are rather rare, especially the ones of non-target coastal fishes. Here we described a long-term time series dataset of fish collected by trammel net fish sampling and observed by an underwater diving visual census near the thermal discharges at two nuclear power plants on the northern...

Species identification based on the DNA sequence of a fragment of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene in the mitochondrial genome, DNA barcoding, is widely applied to assist in sustainable exploitation of fish resources and the protection of fish biodiversity. The aim of this study was to establish a reliable barcoding reference database...

The steep slopes of rivers can easily lead to large variations in river water quality during typhoon seasons in Taiwan, which may poses significant impacts on riverine eco-hydrological environments. This study aims to investigate the relationship between fish communities and water quality by using artificial neural networks (ANNs) for comprehending...

The Mugilogobius group consists of brackish water gobionellines widely distributed in the Indo-West Pacific region. Complete mitochondrial genome and morphological evidence was collected to estimate their phylogenetic relationship and taxonomic status. A total of 11 genera were sampled, including Brachygobius, Calamiana, Hemigobius, Mugilogobius, P...

Synodus pacificus sp. nov., a new species of lizardfish, is described based on specimens collected in the western Pacific Ocean. It belongs to a species group with needle-like posterior processes of the pelvic girdle and differs from its congeners by having the following combination of characters: 4 upside-down omega-shaped marks on the lateral bod...

Most of the commonly used light traps for plankton studies are often large, heavy and expensive, and cannot be easily used for pelagic sampling. Although many small, and simple light traps have been designed, most of them are fragile and have weak light sources, allowing only limited collection. In the present study, a new simplified light trap des...

Mugilogobius mertoni (Weber, 1911) is considered as a widely distributed species around the Indo-West Pacific region, and several nominal species are considered as junior synonyms of M. mertoni. However, in our recent study, several different morphological types of M. mertoni were observed, they were collected from Taiwan, Palau and Phuket Island....

Blue marlin Makaira nigricans is economically important for fisheries worldwide. However, overfishing has substantially reduced the stock size. Better knowledge of blue marlin population genetics will help improve management and conservation. Previous genetic studies concluded that the Pacific blue marlin should be considered a single stock. This s...

Detecting seasonal variation in ecological phenomena is not always possible by use of traditional methods. The pattern of seasonality fluctuates because of the stochasticity of environmental factors, correlations among organisms, and human activity. Here, we propose a Bayesian hierarchical analysis of variance (ANOVA) model of stochastic seasonalit...

A new species of gudgeon, Microphysogobio xianyouensis, is described from Mulan River in Fujian Province, southeastern China. M. xianyouensis appears to be closely related to M. brevirostris (Günther, 1868) of Taiwan. However, it can be well distinguished based on a combination of meristics, morphometric measurements, color pattern and molecular da...

This chapter introduces and gives an overview of the EC funded research project called Fish4Knowledge, which investigated ‘big-data’ issues arising from processing 87 thousand hours of video to detect and analyze 1.4 billion tropical coral reef fish. The chapter starts with a brief tour of the project, and then gives some of the background to the p...

Abstract The complete mitochondrial genome of the salmon shark consists of 16,699 bp and includes 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, 1 replication origin region and 1 control region. The mitochondrial gene arrangement of the salmon shark is the same as that of most vertebrates. Base composition of the genome is A...

Abstract Here we describe the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of the longfin mako, Isurus paucus, which is a pelagic shark found in temperate and tropical waters. The circle genome (16,704 bp) consists of 13 protein coding, 22 tRNA, 2 rRNA genes and 1 control region. It has the typical vertebrate mitochondrial gene arrangement.

An annotated checklist of eels, orders Anguilliformes and Saccopharyngiformes, occurring in Taiwanese waters is presented. The checklist is the result of a series of systematic studies conducted by the authors in the past few years. The eel fauna of Taiwan is one of the richest in the world with a total of 206 species in 74 genera and 13 families i...

The eel fauna (orders Anguilliformes and Saccopharyngiformes) of Taiwan is one of the richest in the world. Recent genetic and morphological studies have improved the taxonomic resolution and increased the known diversity of the eels of Taiwan, and the overall diversity is comparable to that of adjacent marine zoogeographic regions with rich biodiv...

The congrid eel genus Parabathymyrus from the western Pacific Ocean is reviewed and three species are recognized: Parabathymyrus macrophthalmus from Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam and Australia, P. brachyrhynchus from Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands, and a new species, P. philippinensis sp. nov., is described based on two spec...

Some large Saurenchelys specimens collected from Daxi, Yilan, NE Taiwan, and Da Nang, Vietnam, by bottom trawl at depths of 100-200 m, are described as Saurenchelys gigas new species. They differ from all known adult Saurenchelys species by predorsal length 40.9-46.8, head length 36.8-39.3in % of preanal length, 38-40 preanal vertebrae, 63-70 preca...

The following nine elongate unpatterned muraenid species of the subfamily Muraeninae, including one new species, are recognized from Taiwan and adjacent waters: Gymnothorax albimarginatus (Temminck & Schlegel), G. dorsalis Seale, G. melanosomatus Loh, Shao & Chen, G. phasmatodes (Smith), G. prolatus Sasaki & Amaoka, G. sagmacephalus Bohlke, Pseudec...

The long-term species diversity patterns in marine fish communities are garnering increasing attention from ecologists and conservation biologists. However, current databases on quantitative abundance information lack consistent long-term time series, which are particularly important in exploring the possible underlying mechanism of community chang...

In this paper, we described the genus ＂Tetraroge＂ Gunther, 1860 as a newly recorded genus of wasp fish based on the two specimens of ＂Tetraroge＂ nigra (Cuvier, 1829) collected from estuary of northern and eastern Taiwan, respectively. ＂Tetraroge nigra＂ can be well identified by the following features: (1) dorsal fin with 13 spines and 7 soft rays,...

Jaydia erythrophthalma n. sp. is described from specimens collected during two recent biodiversity surveys along the east and west coasts of Luzon, Philippines. It is characterized by a first dorsal fin with eight spines, serrated posterior and crenulated ventral preopercular edges, reddish orange iris and two series of brown spots tinged in orange...

Recent research on the relationship between coral reef water temperature and fish swimming activity has stated that swimming speed is inversely correlated with temperature (Johansen, J. L., and Jones, G. P. 2011. Increasing ocean temperature reduces the metabolic performance and swimming ability of coral reef damselfishes. Global Change Biology, 17...

In this study, the complete mitogenome sequence of two moray eels of Gymnothorax formosus and Scuticaria tigrina (Anguilliformes: Muraenidae) has been sequenced by the next-generation sequencing method. The assembled mitogenome, with the length of 16,558 bp for G. formosus and 16,521 bp for S. tigrina, shows 78% identity to each other. Both mitogen...

In this study, the complete mitogenome sequence of the longfang moray, Enchelynassa canina (Anguilliformes: Muraenidae) has been sequenced by the next-generation sequencing method. The length of the assembled mitogenome is 16,592 bp, which includes 13 protein coding genes, 22 transfer RNAs, and 2 ribosomal RNAs genes. The overall base composition o...

In this study, the complete mitogenome sequence of the Zebra moray, Gymnomuraena zebra (Anguilliformes: Muraenidae) has been sequenced by the next-generation sequencing method. The assembled mitogenome consisting of 16,576 bp includes 13 protein coding genes, 22 transfer RNAs, and two ribosomal RNAs genes. The overall base composition of Zebra mora...

Species of grenadier fishes (Order Gadiformes) in Taiwan are reviewed. The species list of Shao et al. (2008) is revised. A total 71 species in 21 genera and 3 families is recognized, including 5 species that are tentatively identified and 5 species, Coelorinchus hexafasciatus, C. cf. macrorhynchus, C. cf. notatus, Hymenocephalus papyraceus, and Ve...

The distribution of divergence times between member species of a community reflects the pattern of species composition. In this paper, we contrast the species composition of a community against the meta-community, which we define as the species composition of a set of target communities. We regard the collection of species that comprise a community...

The study of deep-sea fish fauna is hampered by a lack of data due to the difficulty and high cost incurred in its surveys and collections. Taiwan is situated along the edge of the Eurasia fig, at the junction of three Large Marine Ecosystems or Ecoregions of the East China Sea, South China Sea and the Philippines. As nearly two-thirds of its surro...

The complete mitochondrial genome of the Wanieso lizardfish (Saurida wanieso) was determined by using a PCR-based method. The total length of mitochondrial DNA is 16,552 base pairs including 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNA, 22 transfer RNA genes, 1 replication origin region and 1 control region as other Saurida spp. and bony fish. Base com...

Abstract The complete mitochondrial genome of the crocodile shark consists of 16,688 bp and includes 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, 1 replication origin region, and 1 control region. The mitochondrial gene arrangement of the crocodile shark is the same as that of most vertebrates. Base composition of the geno...

Five rare moray species: Anarchias cantonensis (Schultz), Gymnothorax dorsalis Seale, G. intesi (Fourmanoir and Rivaton), G. phasmatodes (Smith) and G. sagmacephalus (Böhlke) belonging to subfamilies Uropterygiinae and Muraeninae are reported for the first time off Taiwan. Diagnoses of these five species of moray eels including their fresh colorati...

Combined results based on morphological characters and analyses of partial sequences of the 16s rRNA and coI genes confirm the validity of a new, cryptic, symphurine tonguefish from the western North Pacific Ocean. Symphurus leucochilus n. sp., a diminutive species reaching sizes to c. 67 mm standard length, is described from nine specimens that we...

Lancelets (or amphioxus) are often found within the soft bottom of shallow tropical and temperate seas. The present study is the first to provide a fine-scale biogeography of five species of lancelets (Asymmetron lucayanum, Branchiostoma belcheri, Branchiostoma japonicum, Epigonichthys cultellus, and Epigonichthys maldivensis) in the NW Pacific and...

Based on trawl surveys in the Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea during the 2010 Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition, fish biodiversity characteristics, such as fish composition, dominant species, biodiversity, and faunal characteristics were conducted. We also discussed the responses of fishes to the quick changes in Arctic climate. The results sh...

The reach of dominating social media like Facebook and Twitter in the current population is enormous, and these media have long been leveraged for diverse applications. In particular, for some citizen science projects, existing social media increasingly become platforms on which participants interact and contribute. These user contributions, often...

Typhoons are a regular occurrence in tropical Taiwan. Local flora and fauna should be adapted to typhoons, however more severe storms in the past decade most likely due to climate change have caused an apparent impact on local ecosystems and diversity. Heavy rainfall from typhoon events has been associated with declines in density and biodiversity...

We used universal primers designed for the cytochrome oxidase I (CO I) sequence of the order Cetacea and the family Phocidae to prove that meat fritters sold in Taiwan contained meat from two seal, six cetacean, and one pig species. The sequence information for CO I obtained in this study was limited and population genetics data for the eight sampl...

Abstract The complete mitochondrial genome of the sand tiger shark consists of 16,773 bp and including 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNA, 22 transfer RNA genes, 1 replication origin region and 1 control region. The mitochondrial gene arrangement of the sand tiger shark is the same as the one observed in most vertebrates. Base composition of...

To examine trophic dynamics over different size classes, an isotopic study of sailfish Istiophorus platypterus life-history stages was carried out. Samples were collected from eastern Taiwan and the South China Sea during April 2009 and February 2012. A total of 263 samples (111-245 cm, lower jaw fork length, LLJFL ) were examined for changes in tr...

Abstract In this study, the complete mitogenome sequence of cyprinid fish, Taiwanese barbel steed, Hemibarbus schlegelii (Günther, 1868) (Teleostei: Cyprinidae) has been amplified and sequenced by employing long polymerase chain reaction method. The mitogenome, consisting of 16,612 bp, had the typical vertebrate mitochondrial gene arrangement, incl...

The genus Hemigobius Bleeker, 1874 is has been regarded as only two valid species in previous study including H. hoevenii (Bleeker, 1851) and H. mingi (Herre, 1936). Traditionally, the both Vaimosa crassa Herre, 1945 and Mugilogobius obliquifasciatus Wu and Ni, 1985 found from Chinese and Taiwanese waters had ever been regarded as the junior synony...

During the past years, we collected and studied on the Anguilliformes fishes, and described some new genera and new species of eels. We noticed that there are some misidentified species or invalid junior synonym in Muraenesocidae specimens. Considering how limited this family is known in Taiwan, we would like to revise the species of pike congers h...

The 70 different samples of larval fish morphotypes have been successfully amplified and sequenced in detail via PCR amplification for the partial sequences of mtDNA CO I gene. The overall genetic similarities ranged from 83% to 100%. Totally 26 different fish species can be detected and analyzed. There are 16 fish species can be identified into sp...

A series of field collections of fishes were made in the Matang mangrove, Malay Peninsula in April 2011. At least 23 genera and 27 species of gobioid fishes including a new Pseudo gobius species were collected and recorded in this region during the expedition. The checklist of gobioid fauna and available materials are provided herein, and the forma...

Abstract The complete mitochondrial genome of the Rhodeus shitaiensis was determined by using a PCR-based method. The total length of mitochondrial DNA of this bitterling is 16,774 bp and includes 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNA, 22 transfer RNA genes, 1 replication origin region and 1 control region. The mitochondrial gene arrangement of...

Abstract The complete mitochondrial genome of the shortfin mako (Isurus oxyrinchus) was determined by using a PCR-based method. The total length of mitochondrial DNA is 16,701 bp and includes 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNA, 22 transfer RNA genes, 1 replication origin region, and 1 control region. The mitochondrial gene arrangement of the...

Seahorse, which has a unique appearance and exhibits male pregnancy, is a useful component of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). With the growing demand for TCM, vast amounts of seahorses are harvested from the wild every year and traded internationally. This study investigated 58 dried seahorse samples collected from 23 Chinese herbal medicine st...

Abstract The complete mitochondrial genome of the great white shark having 16,744 bp and including 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNA, 22 transfer RNA genes, 1 replication origin region and 1 control region. The mitochondrial gene arrangement of the great white shark is the same as the one observed in the most vertebrates. Base composition of...

Abstract The complete mitochondrial genome of the big-eye thresher shark was sequenced using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based method. The total length of mitochondrial DNA is 16,719 bp and includes 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNA, 22 transfer RNA genes, 1 replication origin region and 1 control region. The mitochondrial gene arrange...

Abstract Here we describe the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of the megamouth shark, Megachasma pelagios, which is an extremely rare species of deepwater shark. The circle genome (16,694 bp) consists of 13 protein coding, 22 tRNA, 2 rRNA genes and 1 control region. It has the typical vertebrate mitochondrial gene arrangement.

The complete mitochondrial genome of the three-spot seahorse was sequenced using a polymerase chain reaction-based method. The total length of mitochondrial DNA is 16,535 bp and includes 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, and a control region. The mitochondrial gene order of the three-spot seahorse also conforms...

Examination and taxonomic review of the batfishes collected from New Zealand and adjacent waters reveals five nominal species: Halieutopsis bathyoreos and Malthopsis mitrigera are recorded from New Zealand for the first time; the synonymy of Halieutaea maoria with H. stellata is confirmed, and two new species are described. Malthopsis asparata sp....

Aphoristia (= Symphurus) orientalis Bleeker 1879, collected from an unspecified depth and location in Japanese waters, is the first described species of symphurine tonguefish from Indo-Pacific waters. The original description with accompanying illustration is based on the unique holotype specimen and provides limited diagnostic characters for this...

This study presents the response of fisheries management to the extreme climatic events that affect marine capture fisheries and mariculture in Taiwan. Two regional approaches that can be applied universally to help capture fisheries and mariculture adapt to extreme weather events are also proposed. In the winter of 2008, an anomalously strong and...

The integration of Taiwan's biodiversity databases started in 2001, the same year that Taiwan joined GBIF as an associate participant. Taiwan, hence, embarked on a decade of integrating biodiversity data. Under the support of NSC and COA, the database and websites of TaiBIF, TaiBNET (TaiCOL), TaiBOL, and TaiEOL have been established separately and...

Due to insufficient morphological diagnostic characters in larval fishes, it is easy to misidentify them and difficult to key to the genus or species level. The identification results from different laboratories are often inconsistent. This experiment aims to find out, by applying DNA barcoding, how inconsistent the identifications can be among lar...

The results of 100 experimental larval fish specimens identified morphologically by five laboratories (A–E) and DNA barcoding by Academia Sinica (2nd column). In this table, “NA” means unidentified or no answer was provided by the lab; “NF” means no family could be found by COI comparison; “NP” means PCR failure; an asterisk (*) means not recorded...

The complete mitochondrial genome of the tiger tail seahorse was sequenced using a polymerase chain reaction-based method. The total length of mitochondrial DNA is 16,525 bp and includes 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNA, 22 transfer RNA genes, and a control region. The mitochondrial gene arrangement of the tiger tail seahorse is also matchi...

This paper describes our experiences in developing a Linking Open Data (LOD) resource for Taiwanese Geographic Names (LOD TGN), extracting Taiwanese place names found in Facebook posts, and linking such place names to the entries in LOD TGN. The aim of this study is to enhance the semantics of User-Generated Content (UGC) through the use of LOD res...

Three newly recorded gobiid genera of coral-reef gobies have been collected and examined by scuba diving in the Dongsha Atoll, also known as the Pratas Islands, South China Sea. They are Feia Smith, 1959; Sueviota Winterbottom and Hoese, 1988; and Trimmatom Winterbottom and Emery, 1981. These three genera were formerly unrecorded in the Dongsha Ato...

This paper summarizes all the reef fishes collected in Tungsha (Pratas) Island and Taiping Island (Nansha or Spratly) in the South China Sea, along with records of these two islands from literatures and databases since 1975. A total number of 73 families and 652 species in Tungsha Island as well as 56 families and 466 species in Taiping Island were...

The emergence of social media enables people to interact with others on the web in ways that are media-rich ("updates" or "posts" can be text, photo, audio, video, etc), time-shifted (correspondence need not happen at once or within a pre-defined time frame), and social in nature. By utilizing social media, citizen science projects can potentially...

1. River food webs rely on two major food sources: autochthonous primary production within the river and allochthonous organic matter transferred to the river. We characterised the consumer communities and assessed the food sources of dominant consumers along a subtropical mountainous river (the Lanyang River of north-eastern Taiwan) at the catchme...

Since the 1990s, Taiwan’s academic community has been promoting the conservation, education, and research of biodiversity. The Administration authority passed the “Biodiversity Promotion Plan” in 2001 and the Research Agency established an independent Biodiversity discipline in 2002. Subsequently, several universities and the Academia Sinica either...

A new species of Obliquogobius was collected from the deep waters off Kumejima, Ryukyu Islands, Japan. The new species may be distinguished from its congeners by the following combination of characters: second dorsal fin rays I/9; anal fin rays I/10; pectoral fin rays 21; longitudinal scale rows 22; transverse scale rows 7; gill opening wide, exten...

A new goby species of Discordipinna was collected by trawling from the deep waters off Kumejima, the Ryukyu Islands, Japan. The new species, Discordipinna filamentosa, can be well distinguished from the only other described species, D. griessingeri Hoese & Fourmanoir, 1978, by the following unique combination of features: (1) fins: first dorsal fin...

Bottom trawl fishery is one of the most important coastal fisheries in Taiwan both in production and economic values. However, its annual production started to decline due to overfishing since the 1980s. Its bycatch problem also damages the fishery resource seriously. Thus, the government banned the bottom fishery within 3 nautical miles along the...

The specimens of three new records of moray eels (Anguilliformes: Muraenidae) were identified for the first time off the eastern (Changbin) and southern (Kenting) coast of Taiwan. They were Enchelynassa canina (Quoy and Gaimard), Gymnothorax elegans Bliss and Gymnothorax fuscomaculatus (Schultz). The monotypic genus Enchelynassa which had only one...

Food is one of the most important dimensions of resource partitioning for species coexistence. In this study, we investigated the dietary composition and foraging habits of three sympatric odontocetes in order to identify their levels of food niche overlap and ecological separation. Stomach content analysis was performed on sam-ples collected from...

Two new cryptic sandperch species of the pinguipedid genus Parapercis are described from off southern Taiwan, northern South China Sea. Parapercis kentingensis n. sp., described from 25 specimens, is morphologically similar to P. shaoi Randall, 2008. Parapercis rubromaculata n. sp., described from four specimens, is morphologically similar to P. ra...

Gymnothorax melanosomatus new species, is described here on the basis of eight specimens collected from eastern coastal Taiwan at a depth 50-180 m. This new moray eel is distinguished from a closely similar species, G. prolatus, by a combination of the following characters: a uniformly black body when fresh (vs. brown), a relatively long preanal le...

Species of Lophiidae collected from the western South Pacific Ocean are examined. Nine nominal species are recognized, all but one species with their distributions extended eastwards and southwards from the western Pacific Ocean. Two new species are described from Polynesia. Lophiodes iwamotoi n. sp. is described from five specimens collected from...

The first standardized, global assessment of these fishes, using Red List criteria, reveals threatened species needing protection.

An annotated checklist of fish genera and species described from Taiwanese waters through 2009 is presented. It includes 20 genera and 336 species/subspecies in 99 families. Of these, 225 species/subspecies are currently recognized as valid and 111 are invalid, including 7 questionable species. The current status of each taxon, if different from th...

Spicomacrurus, formerly classified as a subgenus of Hymenogadus, is elevated to full generic status after the discovery of two new species from the southwestern Pacific. The following synapomorphies characterizing the genus are not shared with either Hymenogadus or Hymenocephalus, although Spicomacrurus obviously belongs within this clade of grenad...

P>Length-weight relationships were determined in 39 muraenid species belonging to seven genera collected during 2003-2008 from the waters around Taiwan. Various fishing methods were used to collect both the adult and pre-adult moray eel specimens. Length-weight relationship records of 28 species are provided for the first time. New maximum size rec...

Parapercis lutevittata sp. nov., a new cryptic species closely related to Parapercis sexfasciata (Temminck & Schlegel, 1843), is described from the western Pacific Ocean off Japan and Taiwan based on morphological and molecular evidences. It differs from congeners by having four to five large V-shaped transverse dark-brown bands over the upper side...

A robust food web is one which suffers few secondary extinctions after primary species losses. While recent research has shown that a food web with parasitism is less robust than one without, it still remains unclear whether the reduction in robustness is due to changes in network complexity or unique characteristics associated with parasitism. Her...

Parapercis randalli sp. nov. is described on the basis of four specimens collected in southern Taiwan by angling at a depth of 5-150 m. It differs from its congeners in having five broad reddish brown saddles on the dorsal surface; both jaws and anterior portion of snout reddish orange; a yellow bar with red margin on cheek; a series of 8 red bars...

The specimen of Parmaturus melanobranchius (Chondrichthyes: Carcharhiniformes) was collected in the waters off south-western Taiwan. After the description in 1966, only three specimens of P. melanobranchius were collected, one from South China Sea, one from Philippines and the other from Aragusuku Island of Japan. In this study, the fourth specimen...

The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of anthropogenic modification of coastal habitats on fish assemblages in Taiwan, comparing the abundance, species richness and taxonomic composition of fishes on natural v. artificial habitats. While there was no significant variation in the abundance or richness of fishes between natural and ar...