Redescription of Coryphopterus tortugae (Jordan) and a new allied species Coryphopterus bol (Perciformes: Gobiidae: Gobiinae) from the tropical western Atlantic Ocean

Abstract

A re-examination of the holotype and mtDNA barcoding confirms Garzon-Ferreira and Acero's separation of Coryphopterus tortugae from C. glaucofraenum. However, specimens matching the markings of their Santa Marta variant of C. tortugae comprise a distinct clade about 10% sequence divergent from true C. tortugae and C. glaucofraenum. The variant is described here as a new species, the sand-canyon goby Coryphopterus bol, from specimens collected in Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and the Atlantic coast of Panama. The new species is abundant and widespread in the region and has not been recognized as distinct from the bridled goby, C. glaucofraenum. C. bol can be distinguished from C. tortugae by markings: a dark oval spot on the lower third of the pectoral-fin base, a chain-link pattern of melanophores on the top of the head, and a thick C-shaped basicaudal mark and scale-edges outlined in lines of tiny melanophores on well-marked individuals. Putative bridled gobies from three different reef types were sampled: a wide and clearly-zoned shelf in the Greater Antilles (off La Parguera, Puerto Rico), a narrower mixed-zone island of the Lesser Antilles (St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands), and narrow fringing continental reefs in the Southern Caribbean (the Atlantic coast of Panama near Portobelo). In all three locations, C. bol was found in deeper and more offshore reef areas with strong currents, i.e. in the channels of the buttress-canyon zone just inshore of the drop-off in Puerto Rico, around exposed rocky points in St. Thomas, and on wave-swept reefs just offshore of the sediment-influenced coastline in Panama.