A new species of three-bearded rockfish has been described from a specimen taken from a depth of 595 metres in the Tanoudre Valley, off the coast of Mauritania.
Guidelopsarus mauritanicus Hiding under a branching whitish bryozoan Serena reference. Lucida Image courtesy of Tomas Lundelf, University of Gothenburg.
order Cod These include some of the most important species for commercial fisheries today.
There are also small species in this genus, such as the Three-bearded Bulbul. Guide Lopezal Although it has little commercial value, its range is surprisingly wide.
“More than a quarter of all commercially caught marine fish in the world belong to the cod family. Cod family” These include fish species such as Atlantic cod, Alaskan pollock and haddock, which are particularly economically important,” said Dr. Alexander Norn, researcher at Senckenberg am Meer and the University of Bremen.
“However, the Gadidae family also includes much smaller, little known and less studied fish families, such as the Sardinae (Guidelopsalidae), of little commercial value but astonishingly wide in scope.”
The newly described species lives in deep-sea coral reefs off the coast of Mauritania.
“This is the site of the world's largest deep-sea coral reef system, the Mauritanian Wall. The reef stretches for at least 580 kilometres and is 80-100 metres high,” the biologists said.
Scientific Name Guidelopsarus mauritanicus The new species is just 7.3 centimetres long.
this is, Guide Lopezal The species was collected from Tasmania, the most remote geographic location of the samples the team studied.
“Guidelopsarus mauritanicus “It can be distinguished from other fish of the same species based on a combination of different characteristics, including large eyes, a head that takes up a quarter of its body length, long, slender pelvic fins and pink body colour,” Dr Norn said.
“Genetic analysis confirmed that this is a previously undescribed species.”
“Guidelopsarus mauritanicus They were caught with the help of grubs, along with a variety of live deep-sea animals, including framework-forming stony corals and other corals. Desmophyllum pertussum or red deep sea gorgonian Swiftia PhaetonIt also contains colonies of large sponges, bryozoans, starfish, annelids, decapod crustaceans, snails and bivalve mollusks.”
“Also, in the video footage, Guidelopsarus mauritanicus They live exclusively in deep sea coral ecosystems. One of the specimens we saw had whitish spots on its skin. This was the only fish we could see hiding under a branching, whitish bryozoan. Serena reference. Lucida.”
a paper The article describing this discovery Journal of Fish Biology.
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Alexander H. Norn others. Guidelopsarus mauritanicus (Gadiformes, Gaidropsaridae) A new species of three-baleen redfish from a deep-sea coral ecosystem. The biogeographical distribution of the genus is genetically verified, and notes on its ecology and behavior are provided. Journal of Fish Biology Published online August 16, 2024; doi: 10.1111/jfb.15859
Source: www.sci.news
