Abstract
The Indo-West Pacific sand goby Valenciennea parva Hoese & Larson is recorded from the Red Sea for the first time on the basis of underwater observation of several individuals and one specimen collected from sandy bottom adjacent to coral reefs at Al Lith, Saudi Arabia, at a depth of 8 m. Detailed morphometric and meristic data for the specimen is provided. Among known Valenciennea species, the collected Al Lith specimen positively matches V. parva. However, differences in the Red Sea specimen to specimens from the type locality (eastern Australia) are evident in some characters. A key to the species of Valenciennea known from the Red Sea is provided, including V. helsdingenii, V. parva, V. puellaris, V. sexguttata, and V. wardii.
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Acknowledgments
Susanne Dorow and Jennifer Steppler are gratefully thanked for their technical assistance at SMF. We thank Arnold Suzumoto and Loreen O’Hara (BPPM) and Jeffrey Williams and Sandra Raredon (USNM) who provided loans of specimens. The scientific research cooperation between King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Faculty of Marine Sciences (FMS), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and the Senckenberg Research Institute (SRI), Frankfurt, Germany, in the framework of the Red Sea Biodiversity Project, during which the present material was collected, was funded by KAU grant no. “D/1/432-DSR”. The authors acknowledge, with thanks, the KAU and SRI for technical and financial support, as well as Ali Al-Aidaroos, Mohsen Al Sofiyani (KAU), and Fareed Krupp (SRI and Qatar Natural History Museum, Doha) for their help in the realization of the present study, and Andrey Ryanskiy and Jack Randall for their underwater photographs.
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Kovačić, M., Bogorodsky, S.V., Mal, A.O. et al. First record of Valenciennea parva (Teleostei: Perciformes, Gobiidae) for the Red Sea, with a key to Red Sea species of the genus. Mar Biodiv 48, 1229–1236 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-017-0719-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-017-0719-y