This post will introduce a number of new catfish species, a couple of tetras and an a few cichlid species.

Let’s start with the cichlid species. The species known as Apistogramma sp Mamore have been scientifically described by Wolfgang Staeck and Ingo Schindler and named A. erythrura. It is a small species and the largest speciemen that have been found so far was 30.8 mm SL. (just over 1.2 inch).

A new subfamily has been created within the catfish family Loricariidae, the largest family of catfish and currently home to over 700 described species. The new subfamily has been named Otothyrinae and its members include the genera Corumbataia, Epactionotus, Eurycheilichthys, Hisonotus, Microlepidogaster, Otothyris, Otothyropsis, Parotocinclus, Pseudotothyris, and Schizolecis.

Information about the two new species Synodontis ngouniensis and Synodontis batesii from the western part of Africa

Hundreds of new animal species have been discovered by marine researchers studying Australian reefs as a part of the Census of Marine Life, an international effort to catalogue all life in the oceans. The findings include such curious creatures as tongue-eating isopod parasites living on fish and several new species of tanaid crustaceans, some with claws longer than their bodies. The team also found about 150 species of soft coral thought to be new to science, scores of tiny amphipod crustaceans of which an estimated 40 to 60% will be formally described for the first time, and dozens of small crustaceans likewise believed to be unknown to the scientific community. Researchers actually suspect that one or even several new families of species are to be found among the sampled crustaceans.

Two new species of fish has been scientifically described and named: Glyptothorax filicatus and Glyptothorax strabonis. The genus Glyptothorax is a part of the family Sisoridae in the catfish order Siluriformes, and the most species-rich and widely distributed genus of the entire family.

A new species of giant clam has been encountered by researchers in the Red Sea and given the name Tridacna costata. The new species is fairly similar to two other well-known species of Red Sea clams and it was therefore first suspect to be a hybrid, but genetic analysis has now deemed it a separate species. Further research carried out [...]

A swedish documentary film crew claims to have caught images of a famous swedish sea monster on film. The beast is called “storsjöodjuret” which translates into “the monster of the big lake”. Storsjön is the name of the lake in which it supposedly lives. The monster have been sighted for a very long time and is very bellowed by the [...]

An entirely new species of snake has been found in Fiji, The Fiji Times reports. The snake was discovered at Vuna on Taveuni, the third-largest island in Fiji. According to reptile expert Dr. George Zug of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., the snake is unlike any other described species of snake in the world. It is a burrowing snake [...]

Two fish species, one frog species and a number of bat flies – all previously unknown to science – are believed to have been found in Guyana during the filming of a British TV series.
While working on the three-part series “Lost Land of the Jaguar” for BBC One, a team of researchers and wildlife film-makers spent six weeks exploring [...]

Marine biologists being filmed for a BBC TV series about the ocean have managed to find no less than 13 species of fish previously unknown to science. The group also reports having 15 other animals in their possession that they suspect to be new species.

The newfound species have been gathered during deep reef dives in Micronesia in the Pacific Ocean [...]

Genetic and morphological analysis has now confirmed the existence of a second species of manta ray, and possibly a third one as well. Up until know, the scientific community only knew about one single species of manta ray and all encountered manta rays were viewed as variants within the same species. PhD marine biologist Andrea Marshall did however suspect that [...]

A newly investigated 290 million year old fossil may be an evolutionary missing link in the amphibian family tree. The fossil was collected in Texas by a palaeontologist with the Smithsonian Institution in the mid-1990s. The fossil eventually ended up at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., where it was re-discovered and investigated in 2004.
The [...]

The Bolivian Amazon (picture by: Thomas van den Berk)
The Bolivian River Dolphin has finally been graced with the acknowledgement that it is, in fact, a separate species from its close relative, the Amazon River Dolphin. Lighter in color, smaller, and having more teeth, are only a few of the things that separate this newly named species apart from the others. [...]

A new species of Tetra has been found in the drainage from the Portuguese River in Venezuela. The scientific name Hyphessobrycon otrynus. Ortynus is Greek for “spur,” which describes, the large bone spur-like hooks that curve from each side of the anal fin on the adult males of the species. Further information on this new species is lacking, but will be [...]