William Smith-Vaniz

University of Florida | UF · Ichthyology

Sixty species of jawfishes (Opistognathus) from the Indo-West Pacific are reported in an updated review, including descriptions of 18 new species: Opistognathus albomaculatus n.sp., O. asper n.sp., O. aurolineatus n.sp., O. bathyphilus n.sp., O. biporus n.sp., O. challenger n.sp., O. erdmanni n.sp., O. flavidus n.sp., O. helvolus n.sp., O. hyalinus...

Diagnoses, comparisons, photographs and distribution maps are given for three previously described Indo-West Pacific species of Trachinotus that develop spots on their sides as adults. A new species, Trachinotus macrospilus, is described from the Marquesas Islands where it is endemic and the only species of the genus present. It differs from the ot...

A new species of jawfish, Opistognathusthionyisp. n. , is described from the Vitória-Trindade Chain and Fernando de Noronha Archipelago off Brazil, a disjunct distribution of ca. 1,800 km. Opistognathusthionyi and its allopatric Caribbean sister-species, Opistognathusmaxillosus , both have a wide, fan-like upper margin of the subopercular flap and...

Synonymies, diagnoses, descriptions, illustrations, an identification key, and meristic frequency tables are provided for all species of Lonchopisthus. Most of the skeletal anatomy of L. higmani is also illustrated. A new jawfish, Lonchopisthus ancistrus n. sp., is described from the Gulf of Mexico and off Honduras based on 21 specimens 41-89 mm SL...

Ten species of Carangoides from the Red Sea are reviewed. Imposter Trevally, Carangoides talamparoides Bleeker, is reported from the Red Sea for the first time on the basis of four small specimens and three adults trawled off Jizan, southern Saudi Arabia. Previously known from the Gulf of Oman east to Guam, its distribution range is extended to the...

Executive Summary The greater Caribbean biogeographic region covered in this report (representing 38 countries and territories) encompasses an outstanding marine bony shorefish richness of approximately 1,360 species, with many (53%) being endemic. While information on the conservation status of greater Caribbean seagrasses, mangrove, reef-building...

A new fangblenny, Adelotremus deloachi, is described on the basis of three specimens, 29‒35 mm SL, from Bali and Lembeh Strait, Indonesia. All these specimens were collected in 10‒17 m depth on sandy slopes. The new species differs from Adelotremus leptus, its Red Sea and only congener, in having a pair of mid-dorsal supratemporal pores (vs. a sing...

The status of marine biodiversity in the Eastern Central Atlantic (ECA), especially of coastal and pelagic fishes, is of concern owing to a number of threats including overharvesting, habitat loss, pollution, and climate change combined with inadequate policy responses, legislation, and enforcement. This study provides the first comprehensive docum...

The status of marine biodiversity in the Eastern Central Atlantic (ECA), especially of coastal and pelagic fishes, is of concern owing to a number of threats including overharvesting, habitat loss, pollution, and climate change combined with inadequate policy responses, legislation, and enforcement. This study provides the first comprehensive docum...

A new species of jawfish, Opistognathus ensiferus n. sp., is described based on a single specimen from Manauli Reef in the Gulf of Mannar, India. It is a member of a species group that also includes Opistognathus solorensis Bleeker (Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan and Palau) and O. verecundus Smith-Vaniz (northwestern Australia). From these two spec...

The bandfish family Cepolidae, comprising the subfamilies Owstoniinae and Cepolinae, is characterized, and defining characters of the three groups are identified and discussed. Characters of larvae of both subfamilies are described and illustrated. Six nominal genera of owstoniines had been proposed by various authors, but we recognize only Owstoni...

Changes in marine species distributions in response to climate warming are being observed globally. However, there is great variation in the magnitude and rate of species responses. South-eastern Australia represents a global hotspot for ocean warming and, subsequently, numerous poleward extensions in marine species distributions are evident within...

Aim | The European Red List is a review of the conservation status of European species according to IUCN regional Red Listing guidelines. It identifies those species that are threatened with extinction at the regional level, so that appropriate conservation action can be taken to improve their status. This Red List publication summarises results fo...

Aim | The European Red List is a review of the conservation status of European species according to IUCN regional Red Listing guidelines. It identifies those species that are threatened with extinction at the regional level, so that appropriate conservation action can be taken to improve their status. This Red List publication summarises results fo...

Aim | The European Red List is a review of the conservation status of European species according to IUCN regional Red Listing guidelines. It identifies those species that are threatened with extinction at the regional level, so that appropriate conservation action can be taken to improve their status. This Red List publication summarises results fo...

An historical account is given for the ichthyological research at St. Croix, U. S. Virgin Islands, followed by an annotated list of 544 species of mostly marine shore fishes known or reported from the island to depths of 200 m. Color photographs are included for 103 of these species. Collections made at Buck Island Reef National Monument with the i...

Abstract Here we add a recently described species of Hyporhamphus (Hemiramphidae), recognize Chromis bermudae (Pomacentridae) as valid, and remove Parasphyraenops atrimanus (Serranidae) from the list of Bermuda endemics, changing the total number of Bermuda endemic fishes to seven species, eight if Clepticus sp. (Labridae) proves to be new, excludi...

The majority of fish studies on coral reefs consider only non-cryptic species and, despite their functional impor-tance, data on cryptic species are scarce. This study investi-gates inter-habitat variation in Caribbean cryptobenthic fishes by re-analysing a comprehensive data set from 58 rotenone stations around Buck Island, U.S. Virgin Islands. Bo...

A new species of jawfish, Opistognathus pardus, is described based on a single specimen, 98.8 mm SL, recently collected from the Western Indian Ocean off Quilon (Kerala), India. The combination of a rigid maxilla without flexible lamina posteriorly, a unique color pattern in which most of the head is covered with small, irregular-shaped, dark spots...

Adelotremus leptus is described as a new genus and species of blenniid fish based on a single gravid female, 35.4 mm standard length, collected from a polychaete tube in 15 m depth in the Red Sea near Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. The genus differs primarily from other nemophin genera (except Xiphasia) in having pterygiophores of the dorsal-fin spines br...

A new species of blenniid fish, tribe Salariini, is described based on a 23.8 mm SL specimen collected from the Andaman Islands, eastern Indian Ocean. It differs from other species of Alloblennius in having a pinnately branched supraorbital cirrus about equal to eye diameter in height; lower jaws with relatively large, darkly pigmented labial flap...

A new species of jawfish, Opistognathus albicaudatus, is described based on two specimens, 91.4–94.8 mm SL, from the Andaman Islands. The combination of an elongate upper jaw produced as thin flexible lamina, and a unique colour pattern consisting of an abruptly white caudal fin and gill arches with a series of 8–10 small dark spots, each near the...

Three new species of fangblennies are described from Indonesia. Meiacanthus abruptus is described based on two speci-mens, 31.4–36.6 mm SL, from Komodo Island and color photographs of others from Bali. The combination of a white or yellow body color and a single dark mid-lateral stripe that is bluntly rounded at its terminus on the caudal-fin base...

The life and contributions of Dannie Alan Hensley are presented in this obituary. Dannie's work on fishes included publications on pomacentrids, hagfishes, and flatfishes. He became a widely recognized expert on flatfishes and his publications on this group began in 1977 and continued until his death. Dannie described several new species of flatfis...

The monotypic Indo-Pacific genus Parastromateus Bleeker, 1864 is morphologically peculiar among carangid fishes in its overall body form and has been difficult to place phylogenetically. This has been partly the result of a lack of detailed morphological data for this and other carangid fishes. Here, we describe and analyze the osteology of Parastr...

Managers need accurate and relevant information about potential adverse environmental effects of scientific collecting when considering research proposals and permits. Clove oil has recently come into use in scientific fish collecting. While several short-term experimental studies on clove oil's effects on corals have found negative effects, these...

This is a rebuttal to a publication by John C. Briggs in the April 2008 issue of Fisheries in which he suggested introducing fishes and invertebrates from the North Pacific into the North Atlantic to increase diversity toward improving fisheries in the latter. We argue otherwise for reasons that Briggs downplayed or never considered. Using examples...

Aim To understand why and when areas of endemism (provinces) of the tropical Atlantic Ocean were formed, how they relate to each other, and what processes have contributed to faunal enrichment. Location Atlantic Ocean. Methods The distributions of 2605 species of reef fishes were compiled for 25 areas of the Atlantic and southern Africa. Maximum‐pa...

The Caranx hippos species complex comprises three extant species: crevalle jack (Caranx hippos) (Linnaeus, 1766) from both the western and eastern Atlantic oceans; Pacific crevalle jack (Caranx caninus) Günther, 1868 from the eastern Pacific Ocean; and longfin crevalle jack (Caranx fischeri) new species, from the eastern Atlantic, including the Med...

Because cryptic fishes are difficult to accurately survey, they are undersampled components of coral reef habitats, and their ecological roles have been generally ignored. Fifty-eight enclosed stations were sampled in shoreline, nearshore reef, lagoon, backreef, forereef, and bank/shelf habitats with an ichthyocide (rotenone) at Buck Island Reef Na...

Smith-Vaniz W.F. and Jelks H.L. 2006. Australian trevallies of the genus Pseudocaranx (Teleostei: Carangidae), with description of a new species from Western Australia. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 63(1): 97–106. Pseudocaranx dinjerra sp. nov. is described from Western Australia. It differs from the Australian endemic Pseudocaranx wrighti in having t...

The geology, physical conditions, size, and position within the Caribbean may all play a role in shaping the fauna of islands in the Mona Passage. This paper describes the ichthyofauna of Mona, Monito, and Desecheo by habitat, compares it to surrounding island faunas, and discusses the zoogeography of its shore fishes. We used ichthyocides and dive...

Petroscirtes pylei is described from three specimens, 20.3–40.9 mm SL, obtained from a deep-water reef off Suva, Viti Levu, Fiji Islands. It is distinguished from all other congeners by its color pattern, including the presence of two dark body stripes, the lower one broadly extending onto the anal fin, and the dorsal fin with a broad, dark basal s...

Descriptions of six new species of Australian jawfishes (genus Opistognathus) are presented: O. alleni n.sp. (Western Australia), O. seminudus n.sp. (Great Barrier Reef), O. stigmosus n.sp. (Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea Plateau), O. elizabethensis n.sp. (Tasman Sea, Elizabeth Reef), O. verecundus n.sp. (northern Australia), and O. reticeps n.sp...

Descriptions of six new species of Australian jawfishes (genus Opistognathus) are presented: O. alleni n.sp. (Western Australia), O. seminudus n.sp. (Great Barrier Reef), O. stigmosus n.sp. (Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea Plateau), O. elizabethensis n.sp. (Tasman Sea, Elizabeth Reef), O. verecundus n.sp. (northern Australia), and O. reticeps n.sp...

A new species of blennioid fish, Claenopsis megalops, is described from two specimens trawled in 60-72 m off Colombia. Previously confused with C. resh Robins & Randall, 1965, its presumed closest known congener in the western Atlantic, the new species differs in pigmentation pattern, morphometrics, number of vertebrae, gill rakers, and supraorbita...

Synonymies, diagnoses, descriptions, illustrations, and spot distribution maps are given for ten species of Opistognathus. including all western Atlantic species that have a cirrus on their anterior nostrils. Three deep-water species lacking nasal cirri are also treated, including O. leprocarus n. sp. (Bahamas and Lesser Antilles), O. melachasme (Y...

The occurrence of swollen or hyperostotic bones in skeletal preparations, preserved museum material or whole fresh specimens of marine teleost fishes was identified in 92 species belonging to 22 families. Patterns of hyperostotic skeletal growth were typically consistent and often species-specific in all individuals larger than a certain size. The...

Parasphyraenops atrimanus Bean, an apparent Bermuda endemic known only from two specimens, is redescribed. Originally placed in the Cheilodipteridae, P. atrimanus is shown to be a planktivorous serranid belonging to the subfamily Serraninae. It is hypothesized to be most closely related to Serranus incisus and S. luciopercanus, based on unique modi...

Chromis enchrysura is characterized by the possession of 13 dorsal spines, usually 12 anal rays and a body depth of 45 to 62% standard length. The color pattern consists of a dark blue to gray body, with a pale or blue stripe that begins as a V on the snout and extends onto the dorsum, at least in juveniles; the caudal fin is pale, yellow or dusky....

The pomacentrid fish Heliastes flavicauda Günther is recognized as a senior synonym of Chromis bermudae Nichols, and distinct from C. enchrysura Jordan and Gilbert. Chromis flavicauda is redescribed based on recently collected material from Bermuda and compared with the holotype, the only known specimen from Brazil. C. flavicauda is characterized b...

The Caribbean anomalopid fish Kryptophanaron alfredi is redescribed from one specimen collected off western Puerto Rico at 200-m depth, and six specimens from Grand Cayman Island taken in 30-36 m. These specimens differ from the original description in lacking vomerine teeth and in having only two anal spines. Live specimens are now being maintaine...

Typescript. Thesis--University of Miami. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 257-281).

Two new species of Opistognathus are reported from depths of 79-301 meters. Opistognathus megalepis is described from Arrowsmith Bank off Yucatan, the Bahama Islands and the Lesser Antilles between Grenada Island and the Gulf of Paria; O. melachasme is described from Arrowsmith Bank and Cuba. Sexual dimorphism of the maxilla in the genus Opistognat...

The tribe Phenablenniini, containing only Phenablennius new genus, is distinguished from all other blenniid tribes in having the following combination of characters: postcleithrum, single, well-developed and removed from cleithrum; basisphenoid greatly reduced, weakly attached; pterosphenoid probably present but reduced and removed from external su...

A new species of the clingfish genus Derilissus is described from off Dominica. Comparison with its congeners reveals that the new species is most closely related to D. nanus. A reduced number of pectoral-fin rays and disk papillae suggest that D. nanus is the most specialized member of the genus.

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