From the volcanic fjords of Tufi in Papua New Guinea, researchers have described a new-to-science species of a coral reef fish called a dwarfgoby with an unusual purplish-black color. The tiny fish is the “darkest of all described dwarfgobies,” the researchers say in the study, naming it Eviota vader after the Star Wars villain Darth Vader.
Dwarfgobies are miniscule fish that live on reefs across the Indo-Pacific, measuring less than 1.8 centimeters (0.7 inches). Researchers found E. vader, also called black dwarfgoby, during a reef fish biodiversity survey at a depth of 4 meters (13 feet) in Tufi’s volcanic fjords. At the time, there were 134 known species of dwarfgobies globally, and the fish they spotted was unlike any of them.
“It stood out to us immediately, as while there are many dwarfgobies in the 1-4m [3.3-13 ft] depth range on coral reefs, none have this unique purplish-black coloration,” Mark V. Erdmann, study co-author and executive director of ReShark and shark conservation director at Re:wild, told Mongabay by email. “So in short, yes, immediately upon seeing this fish we knew it was something special.”
The lone black dwarfgoby the researchers spotted had large yellow eyes and was 1.15 cm (0.45 in) in length. They photographed it perched on a section of a large coral colony. The fish was later collected using clove oil, which is used to sedate small fish. The team didn’t encounter any other similar-looking fish during the survey.
Erdmann said they sent their only specimen to David W. Greenfield, the study’s lead author and an expert on dwarfgobies, who examined it and confirmed it as a previously undescribed species.
Tufi is a “very unique area,” Erdmann added, as its volcanic fjords “offer a unique coral reef environment” protected from waves. “We don’t know if Eviota vader evolved in the fjords, but at this point in time it is the only place on earth where we’ve found this species, despite a LOT of sampling in the surrounding regions of PNG and the Coral Triangle,” he said.
Dwarfgobies, among the smallest vertebrates on Earth, are part of a group called “cryptobenthic reef fishes” that abound on coral reefs but are hard to spot because they’re small and mostly live camouflaged near the seafloor.
“We increasingly believe they play a very important role in the reef ecosystem,” Erdmann said. “[S]ome scientists have referred to dwarfgobies as the ‘rice of the reef’ — meaning, while they are small and hardly a mouthful, they are in many ways a ‘staple’ food that many piscivorous [fish-eating] fishes rely upon to fill their bellies.”
The authors write developments in underwater macrophotography have helped describe new-to-science marine species like dwarfgobies.
This isn’t the first time scientists have drawn inspiration from Star Wars’ iconic villain. In January this year, a new-to-science giant crustacean was named Bathynomus vaderi because its head was reminiscent of Darth Vader’s helmet.
Banner image of the black dwarfgoby courtesy of M.V. Erdmann.
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