First record of the gobiid fish,Priolepis nocturna, from Japan

Priolepis is a relatively large genus (about 30 species) of the Gobiidae, eight species having been reported from the Japanese Archipelago. Priolepis nocturna, one of the rarest species in the genus, was collected during a study of the fish fauna of Kashiwajima Island, southern Shikoku Island, Japan. Because this is the first record of the species from Japan, the specimen is described here. Counting and measuring procedures followed Hubbs and Lagler and Akihito et al., except for the following: head depth and width were measured at the preopercular margin, body depths at the base of the pelvic fin and the anal fin origin, and body width at the base of the pectoral fin. Vertebrate were counted from the soft X-ray negative. Notations of pterygiophores of the dorsal fins and vertebrae (P-V) follow those of Akihito et al. Cephalic sensory papillae were examined by staining the specimen with suminol cyanine.