Exploration of coral reef ‘twilight zones’ continue to yield species previously unknown to man.  A May 2014 expedition to the Philippines discovered a callanthiid that resembles no other Grammatonotus sp. with its huge rhomboid (diamond) tail and unique two-tone coloration.

This week, this new deepwater fish was formally described as Grammatonotus brianne in Zootaxa (open access).  The paper is authored by William Anderson, Brian Greene, and Luiz Rocha.  The new species is named after Briane Greene’s wife, Brianne Atwood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfKV78nlTH0

Brian Greene with recently collected Grammatonotus brianne used for this research.  Photo by Luiz Rocha.