VANNEAUGOBIUS DOLLFUSI, A NEW GENUS AND SPECIES OF SMALL GOBIID WITH DIVIDED VENTRALS FROM MOROCCO (PISCES: GOBIOIDEI)

Summary

A small gobiine fish with separate pelvic fins from the Atlantic coast of Morocco is described as the type of a new genus. Two specimens are known, both taken in 1926 off Agadir by a Vanneau expedition in about 100 metres of water. The closest known relatives appear to be Odondebuenia de Buen and Gammogobius Bath of the Mediterranean. Certain features held in common with several other genera of small gobies may more easily be attributed to small body size than to phyletic proximity. The new species is characterized by the absence of specialized caudal scales, naked head and nape, lack of the posterior oculoscapular canal, presence of 7 transverse suborbital rows of sensory papillae, absence of free rays in the pectoral fins, presence of 6 rays in the first dorsal, and pelvics I/5 with the fifth articulated ray unbranched.