• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.169-176
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• 2024

On November 9, 2022, a goatfish (Mullidae) that had not been previously reported in Korea was collected during offshore fisheries resources research near Jeju Island. Based on the morphological identification, this goatfish was identified as the genus Upeneus owing to the presence of palatine teeth and vomerine teeth, as well as the proximal part of anterior part of second dorsal fin. Additionally, through molecular identification, the previously unreported goatfish was identified as U. subvittatus with a 99.8% match in the mtDNA COI region. Goatfish U. subvittatus has no patterns on its body and dark bands on both the lower and upper caudal fins, making it well distinguishable from the four species of genus Upeneus reported in Korea. U. vittatus, reported in Japan, showed morphological differences from U. subvittatus in that the dark band on the lower lobe of the caudal fin was wider, and longitudinal stripes were present on the body. Based on the morphological characteristics of U. subvittatus, we suggest a new Korean name, "Jul-mu-nui-kko-li-chog-su".