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Kuiter's Deepsea Clingfish
Kopua kuiteri Hutchins, 1991
A Kuiter's Deepsea Clingfish found in an empty shell trawled at a depth between 305m and 311m, by K. Graham on FV Shelley H off Bermagui, New South Wales, February 2001. View larger image.
Lower surface of Kuiter's Deepsea Clingfish. The region immediately behind the head and including the pelvic fins is modified into a sucking disc. View larger image.
Kuiter's Deepsea Clingfish has an elongate body with smooth, scaleless skin. It has fleshy lips and close-set eyes.
The dorsal and anal fins are positioned opposite each other towards the rear of the body. The arrangement of papillae on the sucking disc is one of the characters that separate this species from the only other species in the genus, K.nuimata.
Kuiter's Deepsea Clingfish was described by Dr J.B. Hutchins in 1991. The holotype (view type details) was found inside an empty cowrie shell that was trawled at a depth between 92m and 110m, off Bermagui, southern New South Wales in August 1980. It was names after its collector, R. Kuiter.
The fish in the images on this page is the second known specimen of this species. It was also found in an empty shell that was trawled from off Bermagui. Subsequent additional specimens indicate that this species probably occurs from southern New South Wales to Bass Strait.
Hutchins described the colour of the holotype (glossary) from slides of the fresh fish (image). It was pale yellowish-brown with numerous irregular shaped orange to red blotches on the head and body. There were several reddish lines and dashes from the eye to the ventral surface and a small purplish ring on the operculum.
The colouration of the fish in the images (AMS I.40824-001) agrees with the original description but the base colour is a pale orange rather than yellowish-brown, and the fish does not have the small purplish ring on the operculum.
Dr J.B. Hutchins is acknowledged for his assistance with the preparation of this page.
View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
Further reading
- Hutchins, J.B. 1991. Description of a new deepwater clingfish (Gobiesocidae) from New South Wales. Records of the Western Australian Museum. 15(2): 463-468.
