Diario del proyecto Australasian Fishes

Archivos de Diario para mayo 2024

20 de mayo de 2024

Western Crested Morwong in South Australia

Matt Tank, @mtank, photographed this Western Crested Morwong, Goniistius gibbosus, at Port Noarlunga Jetty, South Australia. He realized that the fish was well east of its official range, in fact the species hasn't been formally recognized from South Australia. The Australian Faunal Directory states that Goniistius gibbosus occurs in coastal Western Australian waters from Shark Bay (25°30'S) to the Recherche Archipelago (122°27'E).
Janine Baker, @marinejanine, stated that "Yes, WCM has made an out of range home here. Not sure how extensive the population is, since records are localised. Probable that more eastern and western (in this case) species will become resident as southern ocean conditions keep changing."
Matt stated, "You might have noticed that there's a number of observations of this species from the same location in the last two years or so (maybe even the same individual?). I had actually seen some of these a week or two before I recorded my own observation, so it wasn't entirely unexpected. I found it underneath the stairs at the end of the jetty, which is a little bit deeper than the sandy bottom just in front of the reef, about 7m in low tide. I'm not sure if you know of the area, but here's an image."
"Given the depth and me being on snorkel, I didn't get to spend a lot of time with it, but it seemed perfectly happy foraging around the bottom. It moved off when I got too close, but wasn't too concerned. I don't know what this species' behaviour is usually like around people, but to me it acted much like any other morwong I've seen - not too skittish but not overly curious."
Matt also stated, "I'm not sure if it's useful information, but this happend to be virtually the same location that a handful of out-of-range Scorpis lineolata observations were made too. I doubt they're related, but maybe worth mentioning."
Read more about Matt on his Australasian Fishes Project member profile.
Publicado el 20 de mayo de 2024 a las 02:17 AM por markmcg markmcg | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

23 de mayo de 2024

Blackbarred Reefgoby - a new record for Australia

pnocturna
Kristin Anderson, @kjadiver, took this wonderful photograph of a Blackbarred Reefgoby, Priolepis nocturna, at a depth of about 12m near Exmouth, North West Cape, Western Australia. It's a new record for Australia!
Kristin stated, "I'd seen individuals of this species many times but usually they were very skittish, darting back out of sight immediately, or they were tucked in an awkward to photograph place, so I rarely spent much time trying to photograph them. It's one of my favourite sites, so I was confident I'd get the chance eventually! During this dive, finally, one was looking out from a better ledge and stayed long enough for a couple of snaps."
The identification of the fish was confirmed by Western Australian Museum Fish Curator Dr Glenn Moore, @gmoo, and goby expert Dr Helen Larson. Many thanks to you both.
The species has been recorded from localities throughout the Indo-Pacific. See the distribution map on the Fishbase website.
Prior to Kristen's discovery, 13 species of Priolepis were known From Australian waters (view the Australian Faunal Directory). Currently the Australasian Fishes Project has observations of only 4 of these.
It would be good to improve our coverage of the genus Priolepis. Please check your goby photographs from coastal waters of New South Wales and Lord Howe Island? You may uncover an image of a Blue-head Reefgoby, Priolepis cyanocephala. If you do, please upload it and let me know.
Thank you Kristin for uploading this important observation and for your ongoing support for the Australasian Fishes Project.
Publicado el 23 de mayo de 2024 a las 01:25 AM por markmcg markmcg | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario