RESEARCH ARTICLE
The status of Enneanectes
jordani and a new species of triplefin blenny
from the Greater 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 quadra n. sp., belonging
to the scaled-belly subgroup. The species is distinguished
by a lightly marked head, a mostly square dark bar
on the caudal peduncle that is much darker than the
other body bars, a short first dorsal fin, and no
scales on the preopercle. The species is apparently
uncommon and has been found to date in the Bahamas,
St. Croix and Antigua in the Lesser Antilles, and
in the western Caribbean Sea at Yucatán (Mexico),
Honduras, Belize, and Providencia. The mtDNA barcode
COI sequence is 12.1% divergent from its nearest relative.
Some specimens of the new species in museums have
been identified as E. jordani;,
but a forensic-type reexamination of the status of
Enneanectes jordani (Evermann & Marsh,
1899) reveals the type specimens to be the same species
as the common Enneanectes pectoralis (Fowler,
1941), and Enneanectes jordani now becomes
the senior synonym for that widespread species. A
phenetic NJ tree of mtDNA sequences and a revised
key to the eight current species of Enneanectes
in the Greater Caribbean region is presented.
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CITATION:
Victor, B.C. (2017) The
status of Enneanectes jordani and a new species
of triplefin blenny from the Greater Caribbean (Teleostei:
Tripterygiidae). Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation,
27, 48-73.
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.852637
publication date: 28 August
2017
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