Lipogramma haberorum & L. levinsoni, two more new species of deepwater reef fish

Lipogramma levinsoni and L. haberorum are yet two more new species to be officially described in the last 24 hours. Hot on the heels of Plectranthias takasei, a fish we knew about but didn’t have a name for, are two new Lipogramma species, neither of which were on the radar of rare fish fanciers.

The two new basslets are both deepwater inhabitants of Caribbean twilight reefs, and hence they do not occur in the range of conventional scuba diving. Both Lipogramma levinsoni and L. haberorum are ver similar to Lipogramma evides, but one species, Lipogramma levinsoni, is actually split from this species.

What we had been calling Lipogramma evides is actually the new species Lipogramma levinsoni. — What we had been calling *Lipogramma evides* is actually the new species *Lipogramma levinsoni*.

The msot interesting thing about this new species description is the realization that the majority of the L. evides we ever got in the aquarium hobby, is actually the newly minted Lipogramma levinsoni. The TRUE L. evides actually has a series of three very thin dark stripes, with the third loosely passing through a prominent ocelli in the dorsal fin. Not surprisingly, the Lipogramma levinsoni that we’re familiar with in the aquarium hobby has the shallowest distribution in the genus, except for L. trilineata.

lipogramma-evides-true — The TRUE Lipogramma evides, which much thinner bars and more prominent dorsal eye spot. Photos by Barry Brown, Ross Robertson and Carole Baldwin.

In some ways the true Lipogramma evides has an intermediate coloration between the boldly striped L. levinsoni, and the barely striped L. haberorum. Lipogramma haberorum is a much paler fish overall, with two poorly defined stripes on the head and body, and no hint of striping near the bold dorsal eyespot.

The newly described Lipogramma haberi has an intermediate color pattern between L. levinsoni and L. robinsi — The newly described Lipogramma haberorum has an intermediate color pattern between L. levinsoni and L. robinsi

It’s quite exciting to expand a group of fishes by two species at a time, especially when it comes to the gorgeous and poorly known deepwater basslets of the Lipogramma genus. Thankfully, it looks like we have more species splits to look forward to in the future, with Lipogramma klayi from Dominica likely representing a new species as well.

The newly described Lipogramma lenvinsoni and L.haberorum are published by Baldwin, Robertson & Tornabene in the latest volume of ZooKeys.

Update: The formal name for Lipogramma haberi has been corrected to Lipogramma haberorum.

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Jake Adams

Jake Adams has been an avid marine aquarist since the mid 90s and has worked in the retail side of the marine aquarium trade for more than ten years. He has a bachelor’s degree in Marine Science and has been the managing editor of ReefBuilders.com since 2008. Jake is interested in every facet of the marine aquarium hobby from the concepts to the technology, rare fish to exotic corals, and his interests are well documented through a very prolific career of speaking to reef clubs and marine aquarium events, and writing articles for aquarium publications across the globe. His primary interest is in corals which Jake pursues in the aquarium hobby as well as diving the coral reefs of the world.