A new species of the perciform fish genus Plectranthias (Serranidae: Anthiinae) from the Nazca Ridge in the eastern South Pacific

Plectranthias nazcae, a new species of anthiine serranid fish, is described from five specimens collected on the Nazca Ridge in the eastern South Pacific, some 1500 kilometers west of Chile, at about 26 degrees S. The new species is distinguished from all other species of Plectranthias by the following combination of characters: total gillrakers on first gill arch 28-31, circum-caudal-peduncular scales 17 or 18, tubed lateral-line scales 36-42, certain body proportions, and apparently coloration. Comments on the coloration of P. exsul and a key to the three known eastern Pacific species of Plectranthias are provided.