New yellow basslet species described

Copyright Dietmar Schauer, courtesy of De Jong Marinelife




A lovely new species of basslet has been described from Cuba.

The Royal Gramma or Fairy Basslet, Gramma loreto, is a species well known to aquarists, and the type species of its genus, which until recently contained just four species.

Then Arie de Jong, the owner of De Jong Marinelife in the Netherlands, noticed that consignments of Royal Grammas from Cuba contained occasional fishes that were almost completely yellow in colour rather than the normal bicolor blue and yellow. They were also smaller and showed some behavioural differences.

Eventually Mr de Jong contacted ichthyologists Benjamin Richter and John. E. Randall to report what appeared to be a new species, and subsequently provided them with preserved specimens. As a result a new paper has recently been published describing the new yellow basslet as Gramma dejongi, thus honouring its discoverer. Not for the first time the aquarium hobby has managed to make a valuable contribution to ichthyology!






The specimens imported to the Netherlands were collected near the town of Trinidad on the south-central coast of Cuba. Information provided to Mr de Jong by the collectors identified the habitat of the species as "walls" at depths of between 20 and 30m (66 and 100 ft), which is deeper than for G. loreto.

The new species measures only about 45mm/1.75in, while the Royal Gramma attains over 80mm (just over 3in), and the coloration is also quite different, though the two species overlap completely in their counts and morphology.

They also appear to be effectively identical genetically. The authors therefore discuss at some length whether or not the new fish might be a morph or a subspecies of G. loreto, concluding that the answer is no.

They point out that near-identical DNA is commonplace in sibling species, and that a localised colour form or subspecies not known elsewhere in the range of a very common reef fish would be unusual and hard to explain, especially given the size difference as well. Furthermore G. dejongi does not swim upside-down as is well-known in G. loreto, which orients its body to the nearest rock surface.

The presence of this localised sibling species in the middle of the range of its much more widespread relative raises interesting questions regarding sympatric speciation, and the authors regard this as a potentially important case for further study.















Published: Mary Bailey

dude where do you find these great fish species...?

Cuba

I always dig seeing "Royal Gramma" on the glass at the fish store.

nice!

That is a very cool fish! Bright colors & small too. Nice find Kory!

too me it's funny that at a depth of 60 to 100 feet under our water surface we find a "new species" that has probably been their thousands of years. It is a wonderful find for saltwater fanatics IMO. Beautiful fish.

There are different specie's that come from Cuba not only SW but some nice FW species two like the Cuban cichild and Killie's. The bad part is that Fidel's government won't let American scientist explore for more specie's. I know personally of a swordtail's species ( or i remember as a youngster) I had in a small 20g with no filters lights just a tank my grandpa got for me. This sword tails were bright red as i remember they came from a stream located two doors away from my home in Cuba (yes i am Cuban).

There are mountain streams, rivers, lakes and so much to explore..