Actinopterygii (Gigaclass) > Actinopteri (Class) > Teleostei (Subclass) > Perciformes (Order) > Percoidei (Suborder) > Anthiadidae (Family) > Plectranthias (Genus)

Anthias de Pelicier, Psychedelic perchlet, Osharehanadai, オシャレハナダイ, 佩氏棘花鮨,

Description
Dorsal spines (total): 10; Dorsal soft rays (total): 16-17; Anal spines: 3; Anal soft rays: 7; Pectoral fin rays: 13-14 unbranched; Vertebrae: 26. Body depth: 2.6-2.9 in SL; Head long: 2.2-2.4 in SL. Tip of 3rd spine of dorsal fin with long cirrus (~½ length of spine) and tips of spines 4-7 with shorter cirri, fin deeply notched before softrayed part with 15-16 rays; Caudal fin emarginate, with 14-15 branched rays. Gill rakers: 4-6 + 11-12. Lateral line complete; Lateral line scales: 28-30. Three ventrally-directed to antrorse spines on the ventral margin of the preopercle. Max. length : 4.8 cm SL. Depth range: 50 - 95 m.

Color
Body reddish orange, shading to orange-yellow ventrally, with several thin vertical pale bluish white streaks, edged with red on lower part of body; Head gold-orange with irregular red streaks, and 3-5 pale pink or white spots on cheeks and below eyes; Yellow-edged red ocellus on opercle; Pale diffuse area below dorsal fin, and 10 red spots along fin base; Cirri on dorsal fin spines greyish brown; Anal fin with red spots proximally, dull gold spots distally; Caudal fin pale greenish yellow, with red blotches at base.

Etymology
Plectranthias: from Greek, plektron = anyhting to strike with, spur + from Greek, anthias = a name of an unknow fish given by Aristotle in "History of Animals". This book, written in the fourth century BC, is one of the major texts on biology by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC), who had studied at Plato's Academy in Athens.
pelicieri: in honor of Daniel Pelicier (1946-2018), aquarium fish collector and exporter in Flic en Flac (a village in Mauritius), who collected all of the type specimens and provided one of the photographs the authors used.
Original description: Plectranthias pelicieri Randall & Shimizu, 1994 - Type locality: Mauritius, Mascarenes, southwestern Indian Ocean, depth: 50-70 meters.

Distribution
Southwestern Indian Ocean: KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa), Mascarenes (Mauritius).
Western Pacific: Izu Islands and Ryukyu Islands (Japan); New Caledonia.

Biology
Rests on the bottom with gravel and small round corals; Usually in pairs. Females mature at ~3 cm SL, males at ~4 cm SL.

Last update: 9, November 2024