Common Name
Yellowbar Basslet
Year Described
Gilmore, 1997
Identification
Dorsal Fin: XII, 9
Anal Fin: III, 8
Pelvic Fin: I, 5
Pectoral Fin: 15
Caudal Rays: 19 (segmented)
Gill Rakers: 3-4 upper, 11-12 lower; 14-16 total
Vertebrae: 10 precaudal, 15 caudal; 25 total
Lateral Scale Rows: 21-25
Body stout with pointed snout. Lateral line absent. Preopercular margin smooth. Pelvic fin extends well past anal fin origin when depressed. Outer procurrent caudal rays thickened (3 ventrally and dorsally). Caudal fin emarginate.
Color
Body described as pale translucent greenish with 10-12 tan body bars that are wider than interspaces. The nape is bright yellow from the snout to dorsal fin origin (no white band). No eyeband present. Ocellus on soft dorsal fin with white on the front and rear edges. Fins pale with yellow spots.
Size
Maximum size to ~22mm.
Habitat
Deep rock ledges from 200-300m.
Range
Scattered records in the Caribbean Sea: Bahamas, Cuba, and Belize.
References
Baldwin, C.C., D.R. Robertson, A. Nonaka & L. Tornabene. 2016. Two new deep-reef basslets (Teleostei, Grammatidae, Lipogramma), with comments on the eco-evoluntionary relationships of the genus. ZooKeys No. 638: 45-82.
Baldwin, C.C., Tornabene, L., Robertson, D.R., Nonaka, A., & R.G. Gilmore. 2018. More new deep-reef basslets (Teleostei, Grammatidae, Lipogramma), with updates on the eco-evolutionary relationships within the genus. ZooKeys, (729), 129.
Gilmore, R.G. 1997. _ Lipogramma robinsi_, a new basslet from the tropical western Atlantic, with descriptive and distributional notes on L. flavescens and L. anabantoides (Perciformes: Grammatidae). Bulletin of Marine Science v. 60 (no. 3): 782-788.
Hardy, J.D. 2005. Chapter 121: Grammatidae, p. 1341-1351. In: Richards, W.J. (Ed.). Early Stages of Atlantic Fishes: An Identification Guide for the Western Central North Atlantic. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida.
Mooi, R.D. 2002. Grammatidae. In: FAO Species Identification Guide to Fishes of the Western Atlantic. (ed. Carpenter K), pp. 1308–1369. UN FAO Publishers, Rome.
Other Notes
Genetic data shows deep genetic divergence between two related lineages identified as Lipogramma barrettorum and L. schrieri, and differentiated in coloration from the original description of L. robinsi (Baldwin et al., 2018). The two new species have been confused in the past as color forms of L. robinsi.