Luiz Rocha
Salty Dog
Haha, not really a "new species", just a revalidation, but I got your attention!
We just split the Atlantic Acanthurus bahianus in two species. The Caribbean species (from Bermuda to Trinidad and Tobago) should now be called Acanthurus tractus, and the South Atlantic species (from just south of the Amazon mouth to southern Brazil including the South Atlantic oceanic islands) keeps the name Acanthurus bahianus.
They are very different at the DNA level, but very similar morphologically, that's why they have been recognized as the same for so long. Now that we finally gathered enough evidence showing consistent color differences we split them in two. The southern species (Acanthurus bahianus) has yellow/orange margins on the dorsal and caudal fins, whereas the Caribbean species (Acanthurus tractus) has blue/white margins on those fins. I will post photos shortly.
If you want more detailed information you can download the PDF (it is open access) of the scientific paper here:
http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2011/f/zt02905p068.pdf
We just split the Atlantic Acanthurus bahianus in two species. The Caribbean species (from Bermuda to Trinidad and Tobago) should now be called Acanthurus tractus, and the South Atlantic species (from just south of the Amazon mouth to southern Brazil including the South Atlantic oceanic islands) keeps the name Acanthurus bahianus.
They are very different at the DNA level, but very similar morphologically, that's why they have been recognized as the same for so long. Now that we finally gathered enough evidence showing consistent color differences we split them in two. The southern species (Acanthurus bahianus) has yellow/orange margins on the dorsal and caudal fins, whereas the Caribbean species (Acanthurus tractus) has blue/white margins on those fins. I will post photos shortly.
If you want more detailed information you can download the PDF (it is open access) of the scientific paper here:
http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2011/f/zt02905p068.pdf
