Scientists have discovered a new species of fish in the Gulf of Mexico. Researchers from the Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) in Bremen, alongside a research team from Central America, have said that the newly discovered fish belongs to the hamlet group.
The new fish, named the Hypoplectrus espinosai, was discovered at the Alacranes Reef, which is a reef complex in the Campeche Bank in the southern Gulf of Mexico.
Researchers from Germany, Mexico, and Panama discovered the new species using genetic data, photographs, and geographical records. The study has been published in the scientific journal Zootaxa.
The newly discovered fish lives in coral reefs in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean
The study shows that besides living in the Gulf of Mexico, the newly discovered fish species, the Hypoplectrus espinosai, lives in the Caribbean and the tropical northwestern Atlantic. They are more commonly known as the Campeche Bank Hamlet, and researchers have found them to be a predatory fish.
Indeed, the study shows their diet consists of small fish and invertebrates. At the time, there are 18 recognized species of this fish, and seven of them have been discovered in the last decade. Crucially, the species is recognized by the color patterns on them, which are genetically determined and vary from species to species.
The newly discovered species, the Campeche Bank Hamlet, has an average size of 11 centimeters. The broader Hamlet species can grow from 10 to 15 centimeters in size.
The fish was discovered due to its peculiar color pattern
According to the first author of the study, Oscar Puebla, said, “My Mexican colleague Alfonso Aguilar-Perera from the Autonomous University of Yucatán contacted me some time ago because he had observed a peculiar fish while diving in the Alacranes Reef in the Campeche Bank.”
He explained that the peculiar color pattern of the fish made the researchers curious, as it resembled the butter hamlet and the Veracruz hamlet, but the fish did not match either pattern fully.
He continued to explain that the difference made the research group curious, as, We thought it was a very interesting find, but we also knew that we needed genetic data and a broader geographical perspective to accurately identify this fish.”
The group was eventually able to gather a rather comprehensive dataset that contained photographs, geographical records, and genetic data of the fish. One of the study’s co-authors, Martin Helmkampf, explained, “For an ongoing project, we had sequenced several hamlet genomes—including those of the butter hamlet and the Veracruz hamlet,” adding, “The genetic data showed that the fish observed by our colleague Alfonso Aguilar-Perera was indeed a new species.”