菲律賓發現新種蝴蝶魚Roa rumsfeldi

Roa rumsfledi是一種新發現的美麗蝴蝶魚，但很少人關注這類魚。在2017年10月18日之前，Roa蝴蝶魚只有四種。它們的身軀龐大，深色的身體上有著白色條紋，而且通常在更深的水域中更豐富。

新發現的Roa rumsfeldi是該屬中的第五個物種，與魚屬內其他物種外觀相近，只在身體上有些小差異。除了氣孔數量和魚鰭尺寸不同外，Roa rumsfeldi的主要差異在於它的盆骨鰭和脊椎是全黑，而其它物種的是白色的。

路易茲·羅查（Luiz Rocha）拍攝的Roa rumsfeldi活標本。

這個物種是加利福尼亞科學院在菲律賓西部的維德角島通道收集到的。這條魚被帶回作為保存的標本，也作為Twilight Exhibits深水展覽的展出品。

Roa蝴蝶魚屬中三種最著名的物種——R. modesta，R. jayakari＆R. excelsa都是白色的骨盆鰭和脊椎。

Roa rumsfeldi的骨盆鰭有一個獨特細節，這是辨別這種魚為未知物種的關鍵特徵。如果不把這種魚與其它Roa蝴蝶魚放到一起觀察，它獨特之處就不能明顯地表現出來。如果在mesophotic珊瑚礁中沒有更多新種類的Roa蝴蝶魚屬，那將十分令人驚訝。因為那裡是這個魚屬最常出現的地方，希望更多新物種的發現只是時間的問題。

原文：

Roa rumsfeldi Is A New Species Of Butterflyfish From The Philippines!

Roa rumsfledi is an exciting new species of butterflyfish from a genus that doesn』t get nearly enough attention. Before today the Roa butterflyfish consisted of just four species which all have a high body profile and a pattern of alternating white bars on a dark body, and are generally more abundant in deeper waters.

The newly described Roa rumsfeldi represents the fifth species in the genus, with the familiar appearance for the group with a few minor physical differences. Besides the boring pore counts and fin sizes, the main distinction for Roa rumsfeldi is the totally black pelvic fins and spine, whereas all others have a white pelvic fin spine.

Live specimen of Roa rumsfeldi photographed by Luiz Rocha.

This species was collected by the California Academy of Sciences in the Verde Island Passage of the western Philippines. This fish was brought back both as preserved specimens and one live one for placement in one of their deepwater Twilight Exhibits.

The three best known species of Roa all showing the white pelvic fin spine; R. modesta, R. jayakari & R. excelsa

The one detail of the pelvic fin was a very key feature for recognizing this fish as an unknown species because it wasn』t until this fish was observed with other specimens of Roa that it became apparent how different this fish is. It would be surprising if there wasn』t more species of Roa yet to be discovered in the mesophotic reefs where this genus is most commonly seen so we hope it』s only a matter of time until this genus yields more new species.

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