Common Name
Candy Basslet
Year Described
Randall, 1963
Identification
Dorsal Fin: VIII, 12.5
Anal Fin: III, 8
Pectoral Fin: 13
Pelvic Fin: I, 5
Gill Rakers: 5+1+10
Lateral Line Scales: 48
Vertebrae: 24 (10 precaudal, 14 caudal)
Body elongate, compressed, and robust. Head pointed. Forehead profile straight. Eye moderate to large. Mouth extends to rear half of orbit. Lower jaw projects. Rear corner of maxilla with a blunt ventral projection. Preopercle serrated. Opercle with one stout middle spine and two accessory spines. Spiny and soft dorsal fins appear well separated, with 6th and 7th spine very short. Dorsal, anal and caudal fin with rounded tips. Caudal peduncle strong. Tail slightly forked with rounded lobes. Body and entire head with small ctenoid, deciduous scales. Fin membranes scaled.
Color
Body with 5 brilliant purple to pink stripes edged in dark red. Interspaces between these stripes is bright yellow-orange. This color pattern runs onto the caudal fin. Two small black blotches on the caudal lobes are not connected. A thin white border on the caudal edge. Pink/purple body stripes transition to blue on the fins and surround black blotches. The second dorsal fin has a black blotch. Anal fin has no blotch. Eye is yellow with purple stripes.
Size
Maximum size to 50mm SL.
Habitat
Deeper reefs, both rocky and mesophotic coral reefs (15-165m).
Range
The Bahamas to Brazil, including the Caribbean Sea and S. Gulf of Mexico.
References
Baldwin, C. C. & D. R. Robertson 2014. A new Liopropoma sea bass (Serranidae, Epinephelinae, Liopropomini) from deep reefs off Curaçao, southern Caribbean, with comments on depth distributions of western Atlantic Liopropomins. ZooKeys No. 409: 71-92.
Randall, J. E. 1963. Three new species and six new records of small serranoid fishes from Curaçao and Puerto Rico. Studies on the Fauna of Curacao and other Caribbean Islands v. 19 (no. 80): 77-110, Pls. 1-3.
Other Notes
The genus Chorististium had been erected in the past for these smaller Liopropoma with more separated dorsal fins (rubre, carmabi, mowbrayi, eukrines in our area). The genus Pikea was used for larger Liopropoma with notched but noticeably connected dorsal fins (aberrans, olneyi, santi in our area). Recent phylogenetic work shows Liopropoma is paraphyletic with the inclusion of Bathyanthias in the phylogeny, so they will eventually all be lumped into Liopropoma or several new genera will be proposed for the different clades.