A new paper by David Winterbottom describes six new species of nano reef gobies including Trimma erdmanni, Trimma cheni and four other species. The new Trimma species were all described from collection near Raja Ampat Indonesia, the same region which recently produced the new dottyback species, Pseudochromis erdmanni. Trimma erdmanni is pictured above and it is identified by the broad red horizontal stripe and Trimma cheni has two red cheek stripes and several pale yellow yellow tail stripes.
The last year has been a boon for the description of new nano reef gobies. We’ve seen a wide number of new species of Trimma including the stunning Trimma maiandros and many new species from the Eviota genus like Eviota nigrispinna. The Raja Ampat Islands themselves have been the subject of much documentation and exploration over the last decade. New species from Raja Ampat include many exciting new species of reef fish like Pseudanthias charlenae and Paracheilinus nursalim. The region was also the subject of the incredible new book, Raja Ampat Through the Lens. The new Trimma species are described in the latest issue of Aqua including the four other species T. habrum, T. papayum, T. haimassum and T. xanthochrum.