A marine biologist from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography has discovered a new species of blennium in the waters around Isla del Coco , about 563 km off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. These weights are usually quite small, have elongated bodies and large eyes.
The newly discovered species of blennium has been named Coralliozetus clausus and called pandemic blennium. It is one of several cryptobenthic species found on Cocos Island. It is barely 1.5 centimeters long.
“Although I knew that the way Cocos Island differed from that of mainland Costa Rica, I needed to fully assess the morphological variation in the continent's species throughout its range to be sure that the two differed,” says Phil Hastings, Researcher at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. "That required careful examination under a dissecting scope because these species are very small."
"Fortunately, the protected status of Cocos Island and the waters that surround it bodes well for the conservation of these small fish that are not found anywhere else in the world," says Hastings.
Reference: Philip A. Hastings. 2021. The Pandemic Blenny, Coralliozetus clausus, a new species of tube blenny endemic to Isla del Coco, Costa Rica (Teleostei: Chaenopsidae). Zootaxa 4926 (2); doi: 10.11646 / zootaxa.4926.2.10
