• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.116-120
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• 2016

A specimen of Cocotropus masudai (41.2 mm in standard length), belonging to the family Aploactinidae, was firstly collected from the eastern coastal waters of Jejudo Island, Korea by using a fish trap in July 2011. This species is characterized by having the following morphological traits: XII, 9 dorsal fin rays; I, 8 anal fin rays; 12 pectoral fin rays; I, 3 pelvic fin rays; five preopecular spines; five sensory pores present on lower jaw and isthmus tip beyond fifth sensory pore. This species is similar to C. izuensis except for the number of preopercular spines (five in C. izuensis vs. four in C. masudai) and the anterior position of the isthmus (well beyond the fifth lower jaw sensory pore vs. the tip mostly reaching to the pore). In Korea, C. masudai can be easily distinguished from the Erisphex pottii in having the dorsal fin with nine soft rays (vs. 10~14 for Erisphex pottii), anal fin with seven soft rays (vs. 10~13) and pelvic fin with three soft rays (vs. two). We propose new Korean names, "Dot-chi-sok" and "Dot-chi" for the genus and species, respectively.