Ichthyologist William F.Smith-Vaniz has published his latest review of the Indo-West Pacific Jawfish, resulting in the description of 18 new species in a mammoth, 180-page paper published in the journal Zootaxa. Smith-Vaniz of the Florida Museum of Natural History, is no stranger to Jawfish genera, previously describing over 20 Opistognathus species stretching as far back as 1983. Here, he updates the total valid species number for Opistognathus to 91, reviews all 60 Indo-West Pacific species in the paper as well as introduces us to 18 new ones. Thanks to him, the Opistognathus genus just got another 20% more diverse. And there is probably more to come.
The total number of valid opistognathid species now totals 109 across four genera – Opistognathus, Lonchopis, Stalix, and Anoptoplacus. The purpose of the paper (according to the author,) is to include all of the currently recognized Indo-West Pacific species of Opistognathus including descriptions of the 18 new species. “The genus Opistognathus has never been reviewed or revised except on a regional basis, and most references report species distribution records often with brief descriptions, listings in checklists or type catalogs.”
“The boundaries of the Indo-West Pacific (different from those of the Indo-Pacific) include the Indian Ocean and adjacent seas and the Pacific Ocean as far east as the Pacific Plate margin. The present paper treats 51 nominal species originally assigned to Opistognathus or one of its synonyms, 42 of which are here considered to be valid species, plus 18 new species for a total of 60 valid species.”
The 18 new Opistognathus species
- Opistognathus albomaculatus
- O. asper
- O. aurolineatus
- O. bathyphilus
- O. biporus
- O. challenger
- O. erdmanni
- O. flavidus
- O. helvolus
- O. hyalinus
- O.megalops
- O. microspilus
- O. nigripinnis
- O. parvus
- O. pholeter
- O. triops
- O. vigilax
- O. wassi
Indo-West Pacific Opistognathus range in size from new species O.parvus at 18.9mm (female,) to O.inornatus at 409mm/16”. All jawfishes are obligatory burrow dwellers.
The paper also includes a wonderful quote from Costello in 2020 “the first step is giving a species a name, leading to more in-depth knowledge of its evolution, ecology, and biology.” The paper can be found at https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5252.1.1
