New Species of Blenny – Haptoclinus dropi
A new species of Deep water blenny has been described. The new Species was collected from depths of between 157 and 167 m (just under 500 ft) in the vecinity of Curaco (12°05.069’N, 68°53.886’W, ). The species was as you might already have guessed collected by the, by now legendary, Curasub. The new species is living in the same environment as the Sabre Fin goby, Antilligobius nikkiae that was described in 2012.
The Curasub has made it possible to collect live intact specimens of these species that you until resently only could catch and bring to surface dead from the pressure change. This new species was caught by accident while targeting other specimens.
Haptoclinus dropi as described by Carole C. Baldwin at the Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC and D. Ross Robertson of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Republic of Panamá.
The New species is a small blenny with the holotype specimen being only 66mm long (2,5 inch)
The new species, Haptoclinus dropi is just one of many new teleost species that has been discover in deep water sampling and there is several more waiting to be discribed.
Read the full paper: