Odontanthias cauohis a new species of deepwater anthias hailing from the São Pedro and São Paulo archipelago of Brazil.Odontanthias cauohis the second member of this genus to be described from the Tropical Atlantic Ocean, bringing the total number of describedOdontanthiasspecies to 16.
Up until a few years ago this illustrious group of showy anthias was believed to be restricted to the Indo-Pacific Ocean. However with the discovery and description ofOdontanthias hensleyifrom Puerto Rico, and now with the publication ofOdontanthias cauoh, it is likely that there may be a handful of species from this genus living in the deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
Strangely enough, we don’t know anything about the habitat whereOdontanthias cauohlives because the only specimen was collected at the surface. The basis for the description ofOdontanthias cauohrests solely on a single individual that was collected with a dipnet.
The condition of the fish was not too great because it was a dying specimen that was suffering from unknown causes, and had been nibbled on by opportunistic fish on its way up. Surely this fish lives in the same kind of deep waters and habitats as its congeners but how deep we cannot say.
Due to the condition of the type specimen it is also hard to know how this species looked when it was healthy and colorful. It has a generally red overall appearance, especially in the dorsal and anal fins, with a few yellow stripes on the face similar to the Puerto RicanOdontanthias hensleyi. The caudal fin is in really poor shape but we can see that the pelvic fins are not nearly as pronounced as inO. hensleyi.
Hopefully the discovery ofOdontanthias cauohwill spur more deep diving exploration in this part of brazil as we’d love to learn more about this fish alive, and the natural habitat where it is found.Odontanthias cauohis described by Carvalho-Filho, Macena & Nunes in the latest volume ofZooTaxa.