Varicus

Varicus
Varicus lacerta
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Gobiiformes
Family:	Gobiidae
Genus:	Varicus C. R. Robins & J. E. Böhlke, 1961
Type species
Varicus bucca C. R. Robins & J. E. Böhlke, 1961

Varicus is a genus of fish in the family Gobiidae, the gobies. They are native to the western Atlantic Ocean. ^[1]

The genus was recently reexamined, and several new species were described and added to the group in 2016. ^[2]

Species include: ^[2]

• Varicus adamsi Gilmore, Van Tassell & Tornabene 2016 (twilight goby)
• Varicus benthonis (Ginsburg, 1953)
• Varicus bucca C. R. Robins & J. E. Böhlke, 1961
• Varicus cephalocellatus Gilmore, Van Tassell & Baldwin, 2016 (ocellated splitfin goby)
• Varicus decorum Van Tassell, Baldwin & Tornabene, 2016 (decorated splitfin goby)
• Varicus lacerta Tornabene, Robertson & Baldwin, 2016 ^[3] (Godzilla goby)
• Varicus marilynae Gilmore, 1979 (Orangebelly goby)
• Varicus nigritus Gilmore, Van Tassell & Baldwin, 2016 (banded splitfin goby)
• Varicus prometheus Fuentes, Baldwin, Robertson, Lardizábal & Tornabene, 2023 (Promethean goby) ^[4]
• Varicus roatanensis Fuentes, Baldwin, Robertson, Lardizábal & Tornabene, 2023 (Roatan goby) ^[4]
• Varicus veliguttatus Van Tassell, Baldwin & Gilmore, 2016 (spotted-sail goby)
• Varicus vespa (Hastings & Bortone, 1981)

The whiteband goby (Paedovaricus imswe) was formerly known as Varicus imswe. ^[2] This genus is closely related to genus Chriolepis , and now contains some species formerly included there. ^[2]

References

1. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Varicus". FishBase . June 2013 version.
2. Tornabene, L.; et al. (2016). "Molecular phylogeny, analysis of character evolution, and submersible collections enable a new classification of a diverse group of gobies (Teleostei: Gobiidae: Nes subgroup), including nine new species and four new genera" (PDF). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 177 (4): 764–812. doi:10.1111/zoj.12394.
3. Tornabene, L.; et al. (2016). "Varicus lacerta, a new species of goby (Teleostei, Gobiidae, Gobiosomatini, Nes subgroup) from a mesophotic reef in the southern Caribbean". ZooKeys (596): 143–156. Bibcode:2016ZooK..596..143T. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.596.8217 . PMC   4926659 . PMID   27408581.
4. Gay, Jeremy (2023-09-25). "Two New Species of Gobies Described from the Deep Reefs of the Caribbean". Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog. Retrieved 2023-10-14.