Sandperch, Pinguipedidae, are usually small, elongate, spiny fish in the Perch order.
They are often brightly coloured and live close to the seafloor, where
they feed on Crustaceans and other invertebrates. Male Sandperch are
often territorial, defending a harem of females. Some forms excavate
burrows.
In a paper published in the journal Zootaxa on 2 November 2017, Hsuan-Ching Mo of the National Museum of Marine Biology & Aquarium in Pingtung, Taiwan, and the Institute of Marine Biology at the National Dong Hwa University, and Miranda Van Heden of Heusden in Belgium, describe a new species of Sandperch from Cebu Island in the Philippines.
The new species is placed in the genus Parapercis, and given the specific name altipinnis, meaning 'long-fin', in reference to the unusually high dorsal fin of this species. The species is described from a single specimen obtained by Miranda Van Heden from De Jong Marinelife, and initially confirmed as species by Hsuan-Ching Mo from a photograph sent to him. The specimen is 50.3 mm in length, reddish in colour above and black below, with a pattern of irregular deep coloured saddles, bars, dots and white patches. It was reportedly obtained at a depth of between 55 and 65 m.
Living or fresh coloration of Parapercis altipinnis. Miranda Van Heden in Ho & Van Heden (2017).
Sandperch of the genus Parapercis are protogynous, which is to say individuals start out as female and become male as they mature. The single known specimen of Parapercis altipinnis is a female, but has no eggs in its ovaries, which Ho and Van Heden suggest is probably associated with either a juvenile yet to produce any eggs or a mature female which has just spawned.
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