Benjamin Victor | Nova Southeastern University (original) (raw)

Papers by Benjamin Victor

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Sep 9, 2022

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The US Virgin Islands (USVI) include St. John and St. Thomas on the Puerto Rican Platform (PRP) a... more The US Virgin Islands (USVI) include St. John and St. Thomas on the Puerto Rican Platform (PRP) and St. Croix, isolated by 2000 m deep water 45 km south of that platform. Previous inventories of the marine fishes of these islands include a comprehensive 2014 checklist of the fishes of St. Croix and a list of the fishes of the PRP produced in 2000. The latter list noted the locations of many records of the plateau’s fishes, allowing the construction of a combined inventory for St. John and St. Thomas. Those two islands are treated here as a single faunal unit because they are only 3.5 km apart on a shared shallow shelf with various islets and reefs in between. Here we provide updated information on those two USVI (St. Croix and St. John-Thomas) marine fish faunas. The additions to the St. Croix and St. John-Thomas inventories presented here are based on a combination of information from the two sources indicated above, more recent publications dealing with those faunas, a review of l...

The new labrid fish species, Halichoeres gurrobyi n. sp., is described from specimens collected i... more The new labrid fish species, Halichoeres gurrobyi n. sp., is described from specimens collected in Mauritius, in the southwestern Indian Ocean. The new species is part of the yellow-striped initial-phase species complex of Halichoeres, comprising several species found in the Indo-Pacific, including the type species for the genus Halichoeres Rüppell. Two of the closest relatives of H. gurrobyi also occur in Mauritius, i.e. H. zeylonicus (the southwestern Indian Ocean [SWIO] genovariant) and the rare deep-reef H. pelicieri. The initial-phases of these species are similar and have been confused, but DNA barcoding clearly shows three distinct DNA lineages in the SWIO and helps resolve the diagnostic characters. The terminal-phase (TP) male of the new species is unknown. The new species is 9% divergent in the sequence of the mtDNA barcode marker COI (minimum interspecific divergence, pairwise; 9.6% K2P distance) from its nearest relative, H. pelicieri. A neighbor-joining tree o...

The following thirty-four new species of the pempherid fish genus Pempheris are described from th... more The following thirty-four new species of the pempherid fish genus Pempheris are described from the western Indian Ocean, raising the total number for the region to 47 species: P. andilana from northwest Madagascar; P. argyrea from the Seychelles; P. bineeshi from southeast India; P. bruggemanni from Réunion and Mauritius; P. connelli from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; P. ellipse from the south coast of Oman; P. hadra from the Republic of the Maldives; P. heemstraorum from Rodrigues, Mascarene Islands; P. hollemani from southeast Madagascar; P. ibo from Mozambique and South Africa; P. kruppi from the Gulf of Aden and Socotra; P. kuriamuria from the south coast of Oman; P. leiolepis from Chumbe Island, Zanzibar; P. megalops from the Seychelles; P. micromma from the south coast of Oman; P. muscat from the Gulf of Oman; P. orbis from the Red Sea; P. pathirana from Sri Lanka; P. peza from southern Mozambique; P. rochai from the south coast of Oman; P. rubricauda from northwest Madagascar;...

Cryptic species with distinct DNA lineages and subtle morphological or marking differences are co... more Cryptic species with distinct DNA lineages and subtle morphological or marking differences are commonplace among some reef-fish families, especially the gobies and blennioids. Often the cryptic species correspond to sets of allopatric populations in species complexes long recognized by taxonomists as geographic variants (allospecies). However, recent large-scale mtDNA sequencing in the Barcode of Life project has revealed instances of sympatric cryptic species. This is particularly important to validate the species-level status of cryptic species in general, by confirming that barriers to interbreeding exist and there is no reason to single out some cryptic species from the spectrum of "normal" species. In the case of the Roughhead Triplefin Blenny (the Enneanectes boehlkei complex), four different barcode COI mtDNA lineages occur in the Lesser Antilles, at least three of which can be collected on the same shoreline on the island of Dominica. When examined closely, clear m...

The glass blennies of Emblemariopsis are found only in the tropical western ... more The glass blennies of Emblemariopsis are found only in the tropical western Atlantic Ocean and the genus is composed of 13 species in the Greater Caribbean region and one species from Brazil. The identity and ranges of the various species are poorly documented and the available keys and species lists are unreliable, mainly due to species descriptions based on few specimens and the very different appearances of immature phases, females, males, and territorial males. The combination of extensive underwater photography and mtDNA sequencing (uniting the phases and delineating species boundaries) clarifies the taxonomy and biogeography of the glass blennies. There are several complexes composed of regional mtDNA lineages, typically with corresponding morphological differences. The red-bannered species complex with orbital cirri has males with red-banded anterior spinous-dorsal fins, and is composed of 7 mostly allopatric species that divide up the Caribbean Sea and B...

For almost a century, a single small holotype specimen of the searobin Prionotus muriel... more For almost a century, a single small holotype specimen of the searobin Prionotus murielae Mowbray, 1928 from Bahamas has been considered a valid species. The diagnostic character for the species is two long filamentous uppermost pectoral-fin rays, otherwise every author agreed it was essentially the same as the Bandtail Searobin, Prionotus ophryas Jordan & Swain, 1885. Recent underwater photographs show juvenile P. ophryas have a filamentous uppermost pectoral-fin ray and a juvenile specimen from trawls in the Gulf of Mexico has the two long filamentous rays. The specimen was sequenced for the mtDNA-barcode COI marker and it matched all other P. ophryas sequences available. The early stages of P. ophryas are documented here, with a spectacularly colorful, newly settled stage with bright-blue fin spots. The pelagic larvae also show the blue spots, and a transf...

A review of collections of triplefin blennies of the genus Enneanectes from the tropical western ... more A review of collections of triplefin blennies of the genus Enneanectes from the tropical western Atlantic Ocean reveals a new species, Enneanectes flavus n. sp., belonging to the unscaled-abdomen subgroup. The species is distinguished by having mature adults with black spinous dorsal fins and mature males with a bright yellow rear body and tail; other distinctive features include the third and fourth body bars closer together than the fourth and fifth, the last dark body bar usually extending onto the basal third of the caudal fin, three dark blotches along the anal fin, and two black blotches on each side of the anterior body. The species is apparently limited to the southeastern corner of the Caribbean Sea, i.e. northeast Venezuela and Tobago (and photographs from St. Vincent), where it replaces the widespread Redtail Triplefin, Enneanectes matador. This species is added to the small set of endemic marine species in this corner of the tropical western Atlantic Ocean, likely adapte...

A new fairy basslet, Pseudanthias timanoa n. sp., is described from 21 speci... more A new fairy basslet, Pseudanthias timanoa n. sp., is described from 21 specimens, 50.0–79.1 mm SL, collected recently from New Caledonia, in the southwestern corner of the tropical Pacific Ocean. The new species is typically found on deep coral-reef slopes, at depths of 50–100 m. One of many slender, brightly colored fairy basslets found throughout the Indo-West Pacific Ocean, P. timanoa is part of the Pseudanthias lori species complex. It is distinguished from its congeners by the live color pattern, which is bright reddish pink with a series of 7 red-orange bars along the upper body followed by a deeper-red rectangular saddle on the caudal peduncle. Mature males develop a greatly elongated third dorsal-fin spine, up to about 1.5 times head length and long, trailing caudal-fin filaments. The sequence of the mtDNA barcode marker COI for the new species is 10.3% divergent (p-distance) from the nearest relative in the Barc...

The western and central Indian Ocean population of the fairy wrasse, Cirrhilabrus rubriventralis,... more The western and central Indian Ocean population of the fairy wrasse, Cirrhilabrus rubriventralis, is here split into three allopatric species: the type species from the Red Sea; C. rubeus, n. sp., a new central Indian Ocean species from Sri Lanka and the Maldives; and C. africanus n. sp., a new east African coastal species. The three species are mainly differentiated by the color patterns of terminal-phase (TP) males. The two new species diverge from C. rubriventralis in the sequence of the barcode-mtDNA COI marker by 2.6% and 0.5%, respectively (pairwise distance; 2.7% and 0.5% K2P distance). The Indian Ocean species complex made up of the 8 spike-fin species allied with C. rubriventralis is now one of the larger species complexes among labrid reef fishes, showing an interesting pattern of allopatric sibling species dividing up the region, as well as the occurrence of localized microendemic species in Indonesia and the Timor Sea. The species complex includes some species that share...

A survey of the mitochondrial DNA marker COI for the gobies of the Cayman Islands reveals two cat... more A survey of the mitochondrial DNA marker COI for the gobies of the Cayman Islands reveals two categories of gobies: a set of genera that are no different genetically from other Caribbean populations, including Coryphopterus, Ctenogobius, Gnatholepis, and Priolepis, and a set of species that have local mtDNA lineages quite different from populations elsewhere in the region, including Elacatinus, Tigrigobius, and Risor. The cryptic divergent lineages include some that show distinct phenotypic differences and are described here as three new endemic species, as well as others that have divergent local DNA lineages but no apparent phenotypic differences and are treated as genovariants, i.e. populations of the same species with genetic differences. The Cayman Cleaner Goby, Elacatinus cayman n. sp., is found to be a close relative of E. evelynae (1.5% divergent; minimum interspecific distance, K2P), despite the fact that specimens were originally paratypes of E. genie (which are 7.5% diver...

Four new species of pempherid fishes (common name sweepers) of the genus Pempheris are described:... more Four new species of pempherid fishes (common name sweepers) of the genus Pempheris are described: P. convexa from the south coast of Oman and the Maldives, unique in the convex dorsal profile of the head, small eye, and silver-gray color, and the scales rimmed with yellowish brown; P. cuprea from northern Mozambique with a deep body, low counts of pectoral-fin rays and gill rakers, and copper coloration; P. darvelli from the Gulf of Oman, silvery with irregular broad brassy stripes and pink iridescence on head and dorsally on body; and P. eatoni, common on the coast of KwaZulu-Natal and Mozambique, often in tidal channels along rocky shores, and typically silvery gray with blue-green iridescence, each scale with a vertically elongate brown spot.

The new species Pseudojuloides polackorum is described from seven specimens collected off the eas... more The new species Pseudojuloides polackorum is described from seven specimens collected off the east coast of South Africa and from near Mombasa, Kenya. The species closely resembles the widespread Indo-Pacific congener P. cerasinus Snyder 1904 and replaces it along the continental south-western Indian Ocean, including Madagascar. The new species is distinguished from P. cerasinus by the absence of a blue stripe behind the eye, a salmon-tinged lower half of the head, a wider orange band along the body (vs. narrower and yellow), and a narrower blue lateral stripe along the body above the band with linear projections into the band. In addition to the color differences, there is a 9.48% divergence in the barcode DNA sequence COI from P. cerasinus from Hawaii, the type location of the species (minimum interspecific distance by K2P; 8.74% divergence pairwise)

A new endemic species of labrisomid blenny, Starksia splendens n. sp., is described from the Caym... more A new endemic species of labrisomid blenny, Starksia splendens n. sp., is described from the Cayman Islands in the central Caribbean Sea. The new blenny is a member of the Starksia lepicoelia species complex (Blackcheek Shy Blennies), which breaks up into a set of allopatric cryptic species in the region. This case is an example of the difficulty in delineating species boundaries when there is high variation in marking patterns: without the combination of extensive underwater photography and mtDNA sequencing, diagnostic differences could not be accurately determined. In this case, the new species is distinguished by color patterns, species-specific black markings on the lips of both females and males, as well as elongated, ribbon-like, white orbital cirri on mature males. Mitochondrial DNA sequencing reveals a 7.22% divergence in the sequence of the mtDNA COI barcode marker from the nearest member of the species complex, S. williamsi, from the Lesser Antilles. The species complex no...

The Indo-Pacific labrid fish genus Pseudocoris Bleeker is represented by nine species: three pair... more The Indo-Pacific labrid fish genus Pseudocoris Bleeker is represented by nine species: three pairs of sibling species that split between the Indian and Pacific Oceans and three endemic to various parts of the Pacific Ocean. Two of the species pairs include a new species for the Indian Ocean sibling. Pseudocoris heteroptera (Bleeker) is now considered limited to the Pacific Ocean, ranging from the Line Islands to Indonesia, north to Taiwan and southern Japan, and south to the Great Barrier Reef, while Pseudocoris occidentalis n. sp. is from the western Indian Ocean. The terminal male of both species have a large dark bar anteriorly on the body, followed by a series of irregular black bars; the Indian Ocean species differs by having shorter bars, a bright yellow anal fin in the terminal male, and the juveniles blue becoming yellow posteriorly. Pseudocoris yamashiroi (Schmidt) is now considered limited to the Pacific Ocean, wide-ranging from Japan, Taiwan, and the Marshall Islands, sou...

The new labrid fish species, Pseudojuloides labyrinthus n. sp., is described from three specimens... more The new labrid fish species, Pseudojuloides labyrinthus n. sp., is described from three specimens obtained via the aquarium trade from Kenya, in the western Indian Ocean. The species is similar in appearance to other IndoPacific Pseudojuloides in the P. severnsi complex, distinguished mainly by the markings of the terminal-phase male, which includes a maze of lines on the head and three thicker blue stripes along the rear body. Despite the similarity in appearance, the new species is 9.66% divergent in the sequence of the mtDNA barcode marker COI (minimum interspecific divergence, pairwise; 10.54% K2P distance) from its nearest relative, P. edwardi, also found in Kenya. A neighbor-joining tree and genetic distance matrix is presented for 12 of the 14 known species in the genus Pseudojuloides.

The new species, Pseudojuloides zeus, is described from two specimens obtained from Majuro Atoll ... more The new species, Pseudojuloides zeus, is described from two specimens obtained from Majuro Atoll in the Marshall Islands and Palau in Micronesia, western Pacific Ocean. The species is distinguished by two prominent jagged blue stripes along the body and a dark spot at the base of the mid-dorsal fin. P. zeus is a rarely seen fish, found only on particularly deep reefs and, thus far, from only two locations. The single paratype from Palau was collected at about 80m during the 1997 ‘Twilight Zone’ Expedition by the Bishop Museum and, since then, a series of specimens have been collected for the aquarium trade from similarly deep reefs at Majuro. The nearest relative is P. mesostigma, from Japan, Philippines, Indonesia, Vanuatu, Tonga, and the Great Barrier Reef, which shares the very slender body and has a dark area on the mid-dorsal fin and body, but does not have the distinctive two blue stripes. The barcode mtDNA COI sequence of the new species is 5.3% different from the sequence of...

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Sep 9, 2022

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