Apparently, Acanthoplesiops cappuccino didn’t get the memo that Reef Builders already did their round up of the top new reef fish species of 2013. The cool little coffee-themed and coffee-named basslet is a new species from the Red Sea by Anthony Gill et. al.
The new Cappuccino basslet is the first record of this group of small marine-betta like fishes from the Red Sea, and is currently known only from a single very attractive specimen that was used for the holotype of the species. Collected near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Acanthoplesiops cappuccino is aptly named with a luscious brown coloration and some patches of lighter coffee color.
Acanthoplesiops cappuccino is also adorned with a bright yellow-edged tail fin, very similar to Plesiops coeruleolineatus, although that fish comes from very far away and the black body coloration is very different. Furthermore, the cappuccino basslet has quite the appendage protruding from its lower lip whose function is unknown, but gives this species a very unique appearance.
