The two new Lipogrammas are currently only known from specimens collected off Curaçao, southern Caribbean at incredible depths of 150 to 300 meters (500 to 1000 feet).  Yes; ONE THOUSAND FEET DEEP!

Discovery of unique sealife at these once-impossible depths is made possible by Curaçao’s manned submersible, Curasub.  The two fish both inhabit the rocky seafloor where there are a lot of cracks and holes they retreated into whenever the submersible approached.

Reef fish from waters this deep are unlikely to adapt to captive conditions (at least not without some high tech pressurizing system), and their depth makes collection a costly and uninviting task.  In other words, don’t expect to ever see these fish at your LFS.  We’re just happy that technology has now allowed us to acquint ourselves with these treasures from the deep.  What other beauties might await us down there?

The new species are described in ZooKeys.

Lipogramma barrettorum