New fish species named in Taiwan by NSYSU team

DISCOVERY:
The small goby was first recorded in northern Taiwan in 2012, but improper storage of samples prevented the fish from being officially named

By Huang Liang-chieh and Esme Yeh / Staff reporter, with staff writer

A new species of fish has been discovered and named Stiphodon chlorestes by a research team from National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU).

The research team led by Liao Te-yu (廖德裕), a professor of oceanography at NSYSU, identified the new species among specimens collected from rivers in Taiwan and northern Luzon in the Philippines.

The research project was funded by the National Science and Technology Council and titled “Research on Habitat Assessments and Ecological Restoration Indicators of Isolated Creeks, with Three Rivers near the Northeast Coast as an Example.”

Photo courtesy of National Sun Yat-sen University

Published in the Journal of Fish Biology in June, the research has garnered international attention and galvanized people into discussing habitat conservation of isolated creeks.

The new species was first recorded in northern Taiwan in 2012, but it was not officially named due to improper storage of the specimen, said Chuang Wei-cheng (莊維誠), a NSYSU Department of Oceanography doctoral student.

With more specimens collected in Taiwan and the Philippines for further research, the NSYSU research team finally identified the new species and gave it a name for the first time, he said.

S chlorestes is a small migratory species of sicydiine goby, characterized by an olive-green body, a longitudinal band of dark brown oval spots on the sides, black and white spots on the pectoral fins and a short red or orange line on the caudal fin, as well as a metallic blue glow on the head of males.

The fish was named S chlorestes, as it swims with its pectoral fins moving quickly, similar to a hummingbird flapping its wings, while the blue head and green body are reminiscent of the South African hummingbird Chlorestes cyanus.

Isolated creeks — which run quickly from mountains into the ocean with a smaller basin area and fewer affluents — are habitats to various migratory fish, including Syngnathus, Stiphodon and Tetraroge niger.

As research on fish diversity of isolated creeks continues to develop, more new species of migratory fish have been discovered, helping to promote the conservation of local isolated creek ecosystems.