A new species of Eviota goby has been described from Grand Terra, New Caledonia, taking the total number of species within the genus to 132. Photographer Richard Bajol first sent a photograph of the new species to David W. Greenfield in 2016 who suggested that it looked similar to Eviota atriventris, but had a different pattern and could be a new local species in the complex.
Two years later Mark Erdmann photographed the fish in situ in Touho Lagoon, agreeing with David Greenfield that it was an undescribed species and they enlisted the help of local-based aquarium-fish collector and exporter Antoine Teitelbaum who then collected two specimens.
Named the Pearl Dwarfgoby, its specific name “bacata” comes from the Latin bacatus, meaning adorned with pearls, in reference to the string of round white spots across the dark abdomen. Those white spots, the chequered pattern, and dorsal and anal fin ray counts are what differentiate it from E.atriventris. Eviota are characteristically tiny, the paratype male E.bacata measuring just 25mm/1” in length. The new species takes the number of Eviota species from New Caledonia to 25.
Citation: Greenfield D.W., Erdmann, M.V. & Teitelbaum, A. (2024) Eviota bacata, a new dwarfgoby (Teleostei: Gobiidae) from New Caledonia. Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation, 41, 14–21
