Shepherd Bart, Pinheiro Hudson T, Najeeb Ahmed, Rocha Claudia R, Rocha Luiz A
Steinhart Aquarium, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA 94118, USA.
Department of Ichthyology, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA 94118, USA.
Zookeys. 2025 Jan 16;1223:333-344. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.1223.135292. eCollection 2025.
Herein, we describe a new species of perchlet found at depths of 100-125 meters in mesophotic coral ecosystems of the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. is unique in both morphology and coloration. The following combination of characters distinguishes it from all known congeners: dorsal fin X, 15; anal-fin rays III, 7; pectoral-fin rays 13 | 13 (13 | 12), all unbranched; principal caudal-fin rays 9 + 8; lateral line complete with 30-32 tubed scales; gill rakers 5 + 12; circumpeduncular scales 11-12; and absence of antrorse or retrorse spines on ventral margin of preopercle. Coloration in life consists of a white to light pink body with two indistinct rows of irregularly shaped red-orange to yellow-orange patches along the dorsal two-thirds of the body, a golden-yellow opercle and maxilla, an indistinct yellow stripe on the dorsal fin, two yellow spots near the base of the anal fin, and two irregularly shaped yellow-orange spots located on either side of centermost caudal-fin rays. With this publication, the genus now comprises 67 valid species. This discovery adds to a strong body of research highlighting the novel biodiversity of mesophotic ecosystems, especially in locations like the Indian Ocean, where few prior ichthyological surveys have been conducted.
在此，我们描述了一种新的小鲈属鱼类，它是在印度洋马尔代夫中光层珊瑚生态系统100 - 125米深处发现的。其在形态和颜色上都很独特。以下特征组合使其与所有已知同属物种区分开来：背鳍Ⅹ - 15；臀鳍条Ⅲ - 7；胸鳍条13|13（13|12），均不分枝；主尾鳍条9 + 8；侧线完整，有30 - 32枚有管鳞；鳃耙5 + 12；围尾柄鳞11 - 12；以及前鳃盖骨腹缘无向前或向后的棘。活体颜色为白色至浅粉色身体，沿身体背部三分之二有两排不明显的不规则形状的红橙色至黄橙色斑块，鳃盖和上颌为金黄色，背鳍上有一条不明显的黄色条纹，臀鳍基部附近有两个黄色斑点，以及位于最中间尾鳍条两侧的两个不规则形状的黄橙色斑点。随着本出版物的发表，该属现在包括67个有效物种。这一发现进一步充实了大量研究，凸显了中光层生态系统的新生物多样性，特别是在印度洋这样此前很少进行鱼类学调查的地区。
