New fish family named
A female thalasseleotridid, a member of the newest family of fish. Image: The University of Sydney A University of Sydney taxonomist has built on the research of Emperor Akihito of Japan, perhaps the world's best known ichthyologist, to classify a new family of fish.The classification of the new family Thalasseleotrididae by Dr Anthony Gill comes after careful re-examination of the three species included in the family, one of which was first collected in Port Hacking near Cronulla in the early 1980s.The three species were previously considered part of the family Eleotrididae, commonly known as gudgeons or sleepers, a group of small bottom-dwelling fishes that occur in estuaries and freshwaters throughout the world. But Dr Gill, Natural History Curator at the Macleay Museum, and fellow researcher Dr Randy Mooi of Manitoba Museum, Canada, have examined numerous gudgeon specimens and found unique characters (identification characteristics) warranting the naming of the new fish family. Their...