First record of Cephalopholis formosa (Shaw, 1812) (Perciformes: Serranidae) in the Persian Gulf

The genus Cephalopholis (Bloch and Schneider 1801) (Perciformes: Serranidae) contains 22 species, of which most are mysterious groupers inhabiting within or near coral reefs (Heemstra and Randall, 1993). However, only four species of this genus, C. argus, C. hemistiktos, C. miniata and C. sexmaculata, have been reported to occur in the Persian Gulf (Valinassab and Sedghi Marouf, 2013). One of the widespread species of this genus is C. formosa, recorded in many places in the Indo-West Pacific region (Heemstra and Randall, 1993), but not in the Persian Gulf. In this study, we report the existence of C. formosa in Iranian waters of the Persian Gulf for the first time, as evidenced through bothphenotypic and genetic examination.