This #SundayFishSketch comes from Ichthyologist, Rene Martin. Visit her shop on InPrint to see more of her artwork or to order prints!
Meet the Lipogramma idabeli
a newly discovered deepwater basslet
This gorgeous fish was only recently first described after being found and collected at depths of 122 to 165 meters off the coast of Roatan, Honduras. The video at the bottom of this post shows the first collection of this vibrant, iridescent species.
At just about 1 inch in length, this fish is quite small, but its discovery has helped to make the genus more robust—its addition brings the total to 13. L. idabeli is distinguished from other members of its genus by “its bright blue coloration on the head, nape, and dorsal portion of the trunk beneath the spinous dorsal fin, a prominent round black blotch below the origin of the spinous dorsal fin, and a high number of gill rakers.” (Tornabene, Robertson, & Baldwin, 2018)
The habitat the specimens were discovered in, including those which were used as the basis for initial description of the species (aka, the holotype) were found in “or around small rock crevices, rock piles, or caves situated on steep limestone walls covered with coarse sediment and fine rubble composed of dead sections of the green macroalga Halimeda.” (Tornabene, Robertson, & Baldwin, 2018)
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