ABSTRACT

 A juvenile of long-snout tonguefish, Symphurus longirostris belonging to the family Cynoglossidae, was collected from the waters around Jeju Island, Korea in August 2023. Molecular analysis revealed that our juvenile specimen was identical to S. longirostris adult from Japan (Kimura-2-parameter distance, d=0.002) based on mitochondrial DNA 16S ribosomal RNA region sequences 475 base pairs, and differed from its congeneric S. orientalis (d=0.199). The juvenile of S. longirostris has the following morphological traits: obvious dermal spots on both sides of the bases of the dorsal and anal fins; and peritoneum bluish black on its dorsalmost aspect. The juvenile of S. longirostris is also distinguished from S. orientalis in that they do not have a patch of melanophores above the abdominal cavity on the ocular-side. This is the first record of S. longirostris in Korea, and we propose a new Korean name “Gin-ko-bo-seop-seo-dae” for this species.