ABSTRACT
A new species of the macrourine genus Nezumia is described from specimens collected from the crest of Fieberling Guyot in the eastern North Pacific Ocean. The new species is distinguishable from all other Nezumia species chiefly on the basis of a high number of pelvic fin rays, a relatively high number of first dorsal fin soft rays, a steep blunt snout lacking scales ventrally, a relatively weak suborbital ridge, and a moderately long, thin barbel. Although possibly endemic to the Baja California Seamount Province, the new species appears to lack close relatives among the other Nezumia species of the eastern North Pacific Ocean. It might have arrived there either from a disjunct Tethyan distribution, thus retaining close relatives among the Atlantic Ocean species of Nezumia, or by way of stepping-stone dispersal from the Indo-west Pacific Ocean.
Subject(s)
Animals , Female , Gadiformes/classification , Gadiformes/anatomy & histology , Geography , Pacific OceanABSTRACT
Two unusual specimens of the grenadier genus Coryphaenoides were collected by the deep-submersible vehicle Johnson Sea-Link off the Galápagos. Unlike any other member of the genus, the snout in these specimens was rounded, non-protruding, naked anteriorly and ventrally, with no tubercular scales marking the terminal and lateral angles. They are herein described as Coryphaenoides gypsochilus. Additional specimens of grenadiers were procured by the Johnson Sea-Link, including the second and third specimens of Nezumia ventralis and the first record of Caelorinchus canus from these waters. Three species and one subspecies of Galápagos grenadiers are endemic.