New Species

Plectranthias polygonius & P. hinano are Two New Species from the Central Pacific

Plectranthias polygonius and P. hinano are two new species from our favorite group of dwarf basslets, and good thing too because there seems to be tons of them to be found in deep waters of the world. These two new…

Plectranthias purpuralepis is Taiwan’s Newest Basslets Species

Plectranthias purpuralepis is a brand new species of deepwater basslet coming from the North end of Taiwan in the Three Northern Islands area. It’s not surprising that this new Plectranthias is found in deep water like so many of its…

Hungry Hungry Scale Worms: Scientists Discover Four New Species of Deep Sea Dwellers

Researchers from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego have described and named four new species of scale worms from deep-sea habitats in the eastern Pacific Ocean. These deep-sea worms are known for their iridescent overlapping scales and have…

Chromis mamatapara, a New Species of Damselfish from the Depths of Easter Island

Chromis are part of a group of fish that we expect to encounter in the deeper tropical reefs of the world, alongside the deepwater basslets, anthias, and certain wrasses, It’s therefore not a complete surprise that deep diving surveys in…

[WATCH] New Species Discoveries With Dr. Mark Erdmann and Ocean Geographic

Have you ever wanted to invite a scientist into your living room and hear about all their exciting discoveries? Ocean Geographic has been hosting live video sessions with experts around the globe and last week we tuned in to hear…

Apogon soloriensis, a New Cardinalfish from Japan

Cardinalfish are an important and abundant part of tropical reef fish communities and now we can add one more to the list, Apogon soloriensis. This newly described little red fish was discovered in the Bonin Islands of Japan, better known…

A New Moray Eel Described from South Africa, Gymnothorax elaineheemstrae

Moray eels are a unique and unmistakeable predator of many marine environments, and a very interesting pet predator to keep in an aquarium. Some widespread species have natural ranges from one continent to another but often times, the populations that…

Leptastrea gibbosa & L. magaloni, Two New Species of Stony Corals

Leptastrea gibbosa and L. magaloni are two new species of stony corals that were recently described from this widespread group. We’ll be the first to admit, that despite having ‘an eye for coral’ identification, the Leptastrea are a very challenging group,…

Atlantia, a New Genus of NPS Coral from the Atlantic Ocean

Atlantia is a new genus of non photosynthetic stony coral (NPS) that was just recognized as being unique and as the name implies, from the Atlantic Ocean. Previously Atlantia caboverdiana was first classified as Enallopsammia and then reclassified as a species…

Plectranthias cruentus, a New Perchlet Species from Lord Howe Island

Plectranthias cruentus is a very unexpected new species of perchlet discovered in the remote waters of Australia’s Lord Howe Island region. The sole photo of a freshly preserved specimen collected off Ball’s Pyramid shows a fish that looks quite a…