Ichthyologists from Singapore have named a new species of colourful, scaleless glassfish from the island of Belitung, off the east coast of Sumatra.
In a recent issue of the journal Zootaxa, Heok Hui Tan and Kelvin Lim name the new glassfish Gymnochanda verae, making it the fourth species of Gymnochanda known to science.
The new species differs from the three other congeners (G. filamentosa, G. flamea and G. limi) by the shapes of the dorsal and anal fins (particularly in males), red-tipped dorsal, anal and caudal fins in males, and more serrations on the head.
This species has been exported out of Sumatra in the aquarium trade for some time, where it has been given the trade name of Chanda vera (and sometimes the common name of Rose flame glassfish).
According to the authors, G. verae is a schooling species that keep to the middle of the water column but are not active swimmers.
For more information, see the paper: Tan, HH and KKP Lim (2011) A new species of glass-perch from Belitung Island, Indonesia (Teleostei: Ambassidae: Gymnochanda). Zootaxa 3085, pp. 55–62.
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