clingfish from solomon islands

I had dinner with Cor and Julie tonight, and Cor suggested that I post this up here for ID. It had been so long since I had looked at my photos from Marovo Lagoon (Solomon Islands) that I had forgotten about a lot of them!

Funky-patterned clingfish.

You can see about 8 clingfish in this photo:

I think it is just the Crinoid Clingfish Discotrema crinophila showing a molted pattern.

The Allen & Steene book has something similar as Discotrema crinophila but I think that's a mistake. It's in several other books & websites as just Discotrema sp which implies it's undescribed. Rocha will have to tell us the current status.

So where are the worms?

Hi Eric,

It looks like it has a leopardskin coat on! These (If it is Discotrema crinophila) are extremely variable in colour, so perhaps it's just a camouflage tactic to blend in with the base of the crinoid, seeing it's so crowded everywhere else!

There is another crinoid clingfish from this area that's on Fishbase, but the photo's poor, and I couldn't find another photo on the 'net.

http://www.fishbase.org/summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=23229

Might bear looking into.

Cheers,

Marli

I will send it off to the specialist in the group (John Briggs) and see what he says, but I am inclined to say it is D. crinophila. Nice photo by the way.

Luiz

If it's D. crinophila where's the mid-dorsal stripe? Randall, Allen & Steene (GBR & Coral Sea) have this form with the single lateral stripe as Discotrema sp.

The newer Indo-Pacific Fish Humann, Allen & Steene book states it may or may not have the dorsal stripe.

Cheers,

Marli

Taxonomists.... always changing their little minds.......

I recognize the leopard pattern on that creature, it is the PegBundii fish.....