Schindleria Explained

Schindleria is a genus of marine fish. It was the only genus of family Schindleriidae, among the Gobioidei of order Perciformes but is now classified under the Gobiidae in the Gobiiformes.^[1] The type species is S. praematura, Schindler's fish. The Schindleria species are known generically as Schindler's fishes after German zoologist Otto Schindler (1906–1959),^[2] or infantfishes. They are native to the southern Pacific Ocean, from the South China Sea to the Great Barrier Reef off eastern Australia, and Rapa Nui.^{[3] [4]}

Description

The infant fishes are so called because they retain many of their larval characteristics (an example of neoteny). Their elongated bodies are transparent, and many of the bones never develop. S. praematura reaches a length of 2.5cm (01inches). All of the Schindleria species are reef fishes. They may be among the most common fish of the reefs, based on the results of plankton tows, but because of their transparency and small size, they are infrequently seen in life.

A recently described species, the stout infantfish, S. brevipinguis, was briefly the world's smallest known vertebrate at 8 mm (about one-third inch), smaller even than the dwarf gobies, until the new record was set by the 7.9-mm Paedocypris progenetica in early 2006 and supplanted by the 7.7-mm frog Paedophryne amauensis in 2012.^[5]

Apparently several (at least eight) further Schindleria species, native to the Ryukyu Islands, are yet to be described formally.

Species

Schindleria contains the following species:

• Schindleria brevipinguis Watson & Walker, 2004 (Stout infantfish)^[4]
• Schindleria edentata Ahnelt, Robitzch, Abu El-Regal, 2022
• Schindleria elongata R. Fricke & Abu El-Regal, 2017 (Elongate paedomorphic goby)
• Schindleria macrodentata Ahnelt & Sauberer, 2018 (Schindler's largetooth goby)
• Schindleria multidentata Ahnelt, 2020
• Schindleria nigropunctata Fricke & Abu El-Regal, 2017 (Blackspotted paedomorphic goby)
• Schindleria parva Abu El-Regal, El-Sherbiny, Gabr & Fricke, 2021^[6]
• Schindleria pietschmanni (Schindler, 1931) (Pietschmann's floater)
• Schindleria praematura (Schindler, 1930) (Schindler's fish)
• Schindleria qizma Ahnelt, Macek & Robitzch 2023
• Schindleria squirei Robitzch, Landaeta & Ahnelt, 2023

Sources

• Book: Burke, Jack D. . 1970 . Cell Biology . Williams and Wilkins . 200 . 9780683012125 . 2009-01-16.

Notes and References

1. Book: Fishes of the World . 5th . J. S. Nelson . T. C. Grande . M. V. H. Wilson . 2016 . 752 . Wiley . 978-1-118-34233-6 .
2. Johnson, David G.. Brothers, Edward B. . Schindleria: A Paedomorphic Goby (Teleostei: Gobioidei) . Bulletin of Marine Science . 52 . 1 . 1993 . 441–471 .
3. Web site: A new species of long dorsal-fin Schindleria (Teleostei: Gobiiformes: Gobiidae) from Rapa Nui (Chile) Société Française d'Ichtyologie - Cybium . 2023-11-29 . sfi-cybium.fr.
4. Watson. William. Walker, Jr.. H. J.. 2004. The World's Smallest Vertebrate, Schindleria brevipinguis, A New Paedomorphic Species in the Family Schindleriidae (Perciformes: Gobioidei) . Records of the Australian Museum . 56. 2. 139–142. Australian Museum . 26 October 2012 . 10.3853/j.0067-1975.56.2004.1429.
5. Rittmeyer . Eric N. . Allison . Allen . Gründler . Michael C. . Thompson . Derrick K. . Austin . Christopher C. . 2012 . Ecological guild evolution and the discovery of the world's smallest vertebrate . PLOS ONE . 7 . 1 . e29797. 10.1371/journal.pone.0029797 . 22253785 . 3256195. free . 2012PLoSO...729797R .
6. Schindleria parva, a new species of Schindler's fish (Teleostei: Schindleriidae: Schindleria) from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Red Sea. 2021. Abu El-Regal. Mohamed A.. El-Sherbiny. Mohsen M.. Gabr. Mohamed H.. Fricke. Ronald. Ronald Fricke. Journal of Fish Biology. 99. 4. 1485–1491. 34270084. 235958855. 10.1111/jfb.14857. 2021JFBio..99.1485A.