A new freshwater goby from the genus Rhinogobius has been named by scientists from Taiwan.
I-Shiung Chen of the National Taiwan Ocean University and Lee-Shing Fang of the National Museum of Marine Biology named the new goby Rhinogobius wangi in a paper in Ichthyological Research.
Rhinogobius wangi was discovered in a tributary of the Hanjiang Basin in southeastern China's Guangdong Province.
Chen and Fang said that Rhinogobius wangi can be distinguished from other members of the genus by the following characters: "second dorsal fin rays I, 8; anal fin rays I, 7; pectoral fin rays 16; rather large scales as longitudinal scale series 26-27; predorsal scales 8-9; vertebral count 10 + 17 = 27; seven parallel, deep brown oblique stripes crossing on cheek in male; branchiostegal membrane with brownish-red spots in male; seven longitudinal deep brown lines on lateral side of body; pectoral fin base with a blackish-brown bar".
The Rhinogobius genus is a member of the family Gobiidae and was described by Gill in 1859. It contains over 35 species, several of which sometimes enter the aquarium trade.
Members of the genus are frequently misidentified by aquarists and are most commonly sold under the old name Rhinogobius wui, which is a junior synonym of Rhinogobius duospilus. The species is typically imported from the Hong Kong area.
For more details see the paper: Chen IF and LS Fang (2006) - A new species of Rhinogobius (Teleostei: Gobiidae) from the Hanjiang Basin in Guangdong Province, China. Ichthyological Research, Vol. 53, No. 3, pp. 247-253.