A new species of dwarf sea bass, genus Serranus (Serranidae: Actinopterygii), from the southwestern Atlantic Ocean

Abstract

Serranus aliceae n. sp. is described from Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo States, southeastern Brazilian coast. The species is readily distinguished from its congeners by the following combination of characters: scales around the caudal peduncle 20 or 21; total gill rakers on first branchial arch 23-29; cheek-scales rows 5 or 6; and by the coloration of live specimens, which are reddish with a broad, conspicuous, white stripe from post-orbital region to the caudal-fin base and a white abdomen. The new species apparently inhabits the deeper (30 or more meters) portions of reef environments along the subtropical Brazilian coast, and is possibly associated with upwelling cold-water masses. The species was observed hovering above rocky bottoms, feeding on micro-crustaceans, squid larvae, and zooplankton. This new species increases to eight the number of valid Serranus species recorded in the southwestern Atlantic.Serranus aliceae sp. n. é descrita do Rio de Janeiro e Espírito Santo, costa sudeste do Brasil. Esta espécie é facilmente distinguível de suas congêneres pela seguinte combinação de caracteres: escamas ao redor do pedúnculo caudal 20 ou 21; rastros no primeiro arco branquial 23-29; 5 ou 6 séries de escamas na bochecha e pelo colorido de espécimes vivos, que têm corpo avermelhado com uma larga e evidente faixa branca que se estende da região pós-orbital à base da nadadeira caudal, e o ventre branco. A espécie nova aparentemente habita a parte profunda (30 metros ou mais) de ambientes recifais ao longo da costa subtropical brasileira, e possivelmente está associada a áreas de ressurgência. A espécie foi observada pairando acima de fundos rochosos, alimentando-se de microcrustáceos, larvas de lulas e zooplâncton. Esta espécie nova aumenta para oito o número de espécies válidas de Serranus registradas no Atlântico Sudoeste.

Spatial patterns of fish standing biomass across Brazilian reefs

“…Only in the last two decades, have studies on reef‐fish taxonomy (Moura, ; Sazima & Gasparini, ; Sazima et al ., ; Luiz et al ., ; Rocha et al ., ), biogeography (Floeter & Gasparini, ; Floeter et al ., ) and ecology (Ferreira et al ., , ; Floeter et al ., ; Krajewski & Floeter, ; Pinheiro et al ., ; Gibran & Moura, ) started to unveil the peculiarity of the Brazilian reef‐fish fauna. In fact, many species that were supposedly shared with the Caribbean are endemic to the Brazilian province (Moura et al ., ; Gasparini et al ., ), with others still being described (Carvalho Filho & Ferreira, ; Pinheiro et al ., ).…”

Fish biodiversity and conservation in South America

“…The number of currently active marine fish taxonomists in the continent, however, is markedly lower than the number of freshwater taxonomists, a situation that naturally causes a slower pace of marine fish descriptions. With 7500 km of coastline, Brazil stands out as the most taxonomically active country in the region when marine fishes are considered, with > 40 species described since the turn of the century in groups as taxonomically and ecologically distinct as the Myxinidae (Mincarone, , ), Elasmobranchii (Soares et al ., ), Labrisomidae (Sazima et al ., ), Serranidae (Carvalho‐Filho & Ferreira, ) and Ophidiiformes (Nielsen et al ., ), to name just a few examples (Eschmeyer et al ., ). More than 15 species of marine fishes have also been described from Chilean waters in the last decades, most of them based on specimens collected, as expected, in regions previously insufficiently explored such as deep‐sea habitats and oceanic islands (Meléndez, ).…”

Resurrection of the Butterfly-winged Comber, Serranus papilionaceus Valenciennes, 1832 (Teleostei, Serranidae) and its phylogenetic position within genus Serranus

“…The family Serranidae, which is composed of sea basses and groupers, has three subfamilies Anthiadinae, Epinepheline, and Serraninae, which are represented by 579 valid species in 72 genera (Parenti and Randall 2020). The genus Serranus (Perciformes, Serranidae) has 30 small reef-associated species (Iwamoto and Wirtz 2018;Horton et al 2020), with the most recent additions to the genus Serranus being S. aliceae Carvalho Filho & Ferreira, 2013 from the Southwest Atlantic Ocean and S. pulcher Iwamoto, 2016, S. drewesi Iwamoto, 2018, andS. inexpectatus Wirtz & Iwamoto, 2018 from the Eastern Central Atlantic Ocean (Carvalho Filho and Ferreira 2013; Wirtz and Iwamoto 2016;Iwamoto and Wirtz 2018).…”