Grammonus waikiki explained

Grammonus waikiki, or the Waikiki viviparous brotula, is a species of viviparous brotula found in the Hawaiian Islands where it occurs at depths of around NaNm (-2,147,483,648feet).

Description

This species grows to a length of 7.2cm (02.8inches) SL. The head and body are brown, while the fins are dark brown.^[1]

Taxonomy

Grammonus waikiki was originally named Microbrotula nigra by Terry Gosline in 1953,^[2] but was later removed from Microbrotula by Cohen (1964), who transferred the species to Oligopus, as O. niger. However, this referral made nigra a secondary homonym of Oligopus niger Risso, 1827 (a synonym of Grammonus ater), necessitating erection of the replacement name Oligopus waikiki.^[3] Later, Oligopus was shown by Nielsen (1999) to be a junior synonym of Pteraclis, so Grammonus was resurrected for all bythitids previously assigned to Oligopus, creating the new combination Grammonus waikiki.^[4]

Notes and References

1. Randall, J.E., 2007. Reef and shore fishes of the Hawaiian Islands. Sea Grant College Program, University of Hawai'i, Honolulu. i-xivb + 1-546.
2. Gosline, W. A. 1953. Hawaiian shallow-water fishes of the family Brotulidae, with the description of a new genus and notes on brotulid anatomy. Copeia 1953 (no. 4): 215-225.
3. Cohen, D. M. 1964. A review of the ophidioid fish genus Oligopus with the description of a new species from west Africa. Proceedings of the United States National Museum v. 116 (no. 3494): 1-22.
4. Nielsen, J. G. 1999 [ref. 24753] Order Ophidiiformes. In: Carpenter and Niem 1999 [ref. 24635].