A new species of killifish has been found in the Andes in Chile.
Irma Vila of the University of Chile discovered the new fish at Laguna Piacota in the Southern High Andes and named the species Orestias piacotensis in a paper in the journal Copeia.
The new killie is described as small and slender-bodied with mottled blackish bands on the flanks which fade to white on the ventral surface.
Vila says that the Orestias piacotensis is a member of the Orestias agassizii complex and had a moderately large head with large eye whose orbits do not reach the dorsal profile.
Unlike other members of the agassii complex, O. piacotensis has an unusual wide protractile mouth with a slightly upturned lower jaw.
The middle rays of the pectoral, dorsal and anal fins are elongated to form a point, and the fish has a narrow caudal peduncle.
The Orestias genus was erected by Valenciennes in 1839 and contains around 42 valid species.
For more details see the paper: Vila I (2006) - A New Species of Killifish in the Genus Orestias (Teleostei: Cyprinodontidae) from the Southern High Andes, Chile. Copeia: Vol. 2006, No. 3, pp. 472-477.