Provided by Hiroshi Hirasaka
A previously unfamiliar goby with brilliant yellow stripes on its fins—both remarkably cool and charming in appearance—was caught by Hiroshi Hirasaka, a biology writer. The location was a "twilight zone" off Ishigaki Island, Okinawa Prefecture, where only scant light reaches that depth of water. When Hirasaka informed Assistant Professor Keita Koeda of the University of the Ryukyus, where they were in the same academic year, the Professor suggested, "Could this be a new species in the genus Vanderhorstia?" Research confirmed it was indeed a new species, based on various other characteristics.
Because the fin patterns evoke the appearance of a character from the popular manga "Dragon Ball," the species was named "Vanderhorstia supersaiyan", drawing inspiration from it. "Electric goby" was proposed for its common name based on its pattern, which resembles electricity being discharged from the body.
It is surprising that such a fascinatingly distinctive fish had never been discovered before. "There is a strong possibility that many more undiscovered and undescribed species, as well as rare species, remain in Okinawa's twilight zone," noted the research group.
The group consists of members from the University of the Ryukyus and the Kuroshio Biological Research Institute. The results were published on November 27 in the English-language journal of the Ichthyological Society of Japan, Ichthyological Research. The research was supported by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation's Ocean Shot Grant Program, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI), and the Japan Science and Technology Agency's (JST) Strategic Basic Research Programs.
Original article was provided by the Science Portal and has been translated by Science Japan.