RESEARCH ARTICLE
Enneanectes flavus, a
new endemic species of triplefin blenny from the southeastern
Caribbean (Teleostei: Tripterygiidae)
Benjamin C. Victor
Abstract
A review of collections of triplefin blennies of the
genus Enneanectes from the tropical western
Atlantic Ocean reveals a new species, Enneanectes
flavus n. sp., belonging to the unscaled-abdomen
subgroup. The species is distinguished by having mature
adults with black spinous dorsal fins and mature males
with a bright yellow rear body and tail; other distinctive
features include the third and fourth body bars closer
together than the fourth and fifth, the last dark
body bar usually extending onto the basal third of
the caudal fin, three dark blotches along the anal
fin, and two black blotches on each side of the anterior
body. The species is apparently limited to the southeastern
corner of the Caribbean Sea, i.e. northeast Venezuela
and Tobago (and photographs from St. Vincent), where
it replaces the widespread Redtail Triplefin, Enneanectes
matador. This species is added to the small set
of endemic marine species in this corner of the tropical
western Atlantic Ocean, likely adapted to unusual
local oceanographic conditions. The mtDNA-barcode
COI sequence of the new species is 2.4% divergent
from the two related allopatric lineages of E.
matador in the Caribbean. A revised key to the
9 species of Enneanectes in the Greater Caribbean
is presented.
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CITATION:
Victor, B.C. (2019) Enneanectes
flavus, a new endemic species of triplefin blenny
from the southeastern Caribbean (Teleostei: Tripterygiidae).
Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation, 32,
1-16.
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2533400
publication date: 7 January
2019
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