Rhinogobius rong and Rhinogobius nami, new species of freshwater goby fish from central Vietnam

NEWS - Researchers have described five species of rhinogobies (Rhinogobius T. N. Gill, 1859) for the first time in central Vietnam. Two new taxa were added as new species, Rhinogobius rong and Rhinogobius nami, and the other three species were identified as R. taenigena, R. leavelli, and R. similis.

The five species living in Da Nang City and Thua Thien Hue Province were distinguished based on head shape, number of pectoral fin rays, number of vertebrae, scale arrangement, arrangement of skin sensory papillae, and color. R. rong and R. similis are widely distributed in coastal areas, while R. nami, R. taenigena, and R. leavelli are only found inland.

The morphology of R. taenigena, R. leavelli, and R. similis differ slightly in location and number, overlap in size, and vary in color, but this study tentatively identifies all populations as R. leavelli or R. similis.

Gobies are included in the order Gobiiformes Günther (1880) as a diverse ray-finned fish with more than 2000 species. Rhinogobius is one of the specific genera that includes 94 species currently recognized as valid. Japan, Taiwan, the Yangtze basin in China to northern Vietnam are considered as hotspots for the diversification of this genus.

Central Vietnam has a large diversity, although it is still unknown until this study. Five species are distributed sympatrically in the river basins of Da Nang City and Thua Thien Hue Province comparable to the diversity in rivers in Quang Ninh Province in northeastern Vietnam.

Rhinogobius rong and Rhinogobius nami, new species of freshwater goby fish from central Vietnam 1

R. rong and R. similis are distributed in a relatively large coastal area of central Vietnam, while R. taenigena, R. leavelli and R. nami are distributed in limited upper reaches of rivers and tributaries, which has important implications for the phylogeography of this genus in central Vietnam.

Original research

Ken Maeda, Hirozumi Kobayashi, Midori Iida & Hau Duc Tran. Taxonomy of freshwater gobies of the genus Rhinogobius (Oxudercidae, Gobiiformes) from central Vietnam, with descriptions of two new species. Zootaxa Vol. 5493 No. 5: 14 Aug. 2024. DOI:10.11646/zootaxa.5493.5.3

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