A new species of Leptoderma Vaillant, 1886 (Osmeriformes: Alepocephalidae) from the Pacific coast of Central America.

D Ross Robertson,Carole C Baldwin,Arturo Angulo

doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4066.4.10

Abstract

A new species of Leptoderma Vaillant, 1886 is described from a single specimen trawled at 1368-1406 m depth off El Salvador, Central America, tropical eastern Pacific. Leptoderma ospesca n. sp. can be readily distinguished from its congeners by the following combination of characters: dermal papillae absent along the lateral line, pectoral-fin rays 6, pelvic-fin rays 5, pre-dorsal length 54.9% of SL, both dorsal and anal fins separated from the caudal fin, dorsal- and anal-fin rays long, procurrent caudal-fin rays numerous and extending far forward on caudal peduncle, caudal-fin rays 16, and total pre-ural vertebrae 60. A key to the species of the genus is presented.

Highlights

The family Alepocephalidae (Osmeriformes) comprises about 96 species, in 22 genera, of benthic and pelagic fishes found in the deep parts of all oceans (Byrkjedal et al 2011, Eschmeyer 2015, Nelson 2006)
Species of the genus are widely distributed in the Atlantic, Indian and western Pacific Oceans: L. affinis Alcock 1899, from the Indo-West Pacific; L. lubricum Abe, Marumo & Kawaguchi 1965, from the western Pacific; L. macrophthalmum Byrkjedal, Poulsen & Galbraith 2011, from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, North Atlantic; L. macrops Vaillant 1886, from the Atlantic; and L. retropinna Fowler 1943, from the Indo-West Pacific (Byrkjedal et al 2011, Eschmeyer 2015)
A detailed morphometric and meristic examination revealed that it represents a previously unknown species, which we describe as new

Summary

Introduction

The family Alepocephalidae (Osmeriformes) comprises about 96 species, in 22 genera, of benthic and pelagic fishes found in the deep parts (usually below 1000 m) of all oceans (Byrkjedal et al 2011, Eschmeyer 2015, Nelson 2006). A detailed morphometric and meristic examination revealed that it represents a previously unknown species, which we describe as new

Material and methods

A NEW SPECIES OF LEPTODERMA VAILLANT

Findings

Discussion