Odontanthias cauoh is a new species of deepwater anthias hailing from the São Pedro and São Paulo archipelago of Brazil. Odontanthias cauoh is the second member of this genus to be described from the Tropical Atlantic Ocean, bringing the total number of described Odontanthias species to 16.
Up until a few years ago this illustrious group of showy anthias was believed to be restricted to the Indo-Pacific Ocean. However with the discovery and description of Odontanthias hensleyi from Puerto Rico, and now with the publication of Odontanthias cauoh, it is likely that there may be a handful of species from this genus living in the deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
Strangely enough, we don’t know anything about the habitat where Odontanthias cauoh lives because the only specimen was collected at the surface. The basis for the description of Odontanthias cauoh rests solely on a single individual that was collected with a dipnet.
The condition of the fish was not too great because it was a dying specimen that was suffering from unknown causes, and had been nibbled on by opportunistic fish on its way up. Surely this fish lives in the same kind of deep waters and habitats as its congeners but how deep we cannot say.
Due to the condition of the type specimen it is also hard to know how this species looked when it was healthy and colorful. It has a generally red overall appearance, especially in the dorsal and anal fins, with a few yellow stripes on the face similar to the Puerto Rican Odontanthias hensleyi. The caudal fin is in really poor shape but we can see that the pelvic fins are not nearly as pronounced as in O. hensleyi.
Hopefully the discovery of Odontanthias cauoh will spur more deep diving exploration in this part of brazil as we’d love to learn more about this fish alive, and the natural habitat where it is found. Odontanthias cauoh is described by Carvalho-Filho, Macena & Nunes in the latest volume of ZooTaxa.
