A short distance off the southeast coast of Bali, there lies a smallish island called Nusa Penida which is the discovery site for a new species of nano goby. Eviota algida joins a parade of new species to be described in the genus and with such an incredible number and diversity within the genus, attention to minor detail is required to differentiate and properly identify this species.
The newly described Eviota algida most closely resembles E. winterbottomi which itself was only described in 2010. E. algida has a darkish body color punctuated by a much brighter red colored head with an indistinct color pattern, but males of the species exhibit and elongated dorsal fin which is not found on the similar looking E. winterbottomi.
Perhaps the most interesting feature of the new Eviota species is that it so far has only been found living in ” a deep, cold-water upwelling area off Nusa Penida Island, Bali, Indonesia”. So this species’ range may be tropical it has found a specific habitat not far from where our beloved tropical fish come from which is defined by cooler temperatures, although the description did not specify the exact degree.
Many new species of unknown Eviota still await a formal description but the description of Eviota algida by Greenfield and Erdmann brings the total number of species to 95. [JOSF]
