Leading reef fish taxonomists Dr Tony Gill and Dr Gerald Allen have described two new species of Dottyback from the genus Pseudochromis.
Pseudochromis lugubris and P. tonozukai were described today in the icthyological systematics speed journal Zootaxa, based on specimens collected from southeastern New Guinea and Indonesia respectively.
P. lugubris, which Gill and Allen have dubbed the Mournful dottyback, on account of the subdued colouration and tear-like mark below the eye, is a largely brown pseudochromine.
P. tonozukai, which was caught off Weh Island in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, is a more attractive fish from a fishkeepers viewpoint, with males being predominantly cream with a horizontal orange stripe. The paper suggests that the fish may be a close relative of the similar-looking P. bitaeniatus.
Gill, an ichthyological systematist from Arizona State University, revised the dottyback genus Pseudochromis earlier this year and found 80 species in the pseudochromine subfamily spread across 10 genera.
For more details on the two new species see: Gill, AC and Allen, G. (2004) - Pseudochromis lugubris and P. tonozukai, two new dottyback fish species from the Indo-Australian Archipelago (Perciformes: Pseudochromidae: Pseudochrominae). Zootaxa 604: 1-12 (11 Aug. 2004)