Fowleria abocellata, a new cardinal fish from the Gulf of Elat — Red Sea (Pisces, Apogonidae)

INTRODUCTION The genus Fowleria Jordan & Evermann, 1903 is represented in the Red Sea by four species: F. aurita (Valenciennes, 1831) (the type species); F. variegata (Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1832); F. isostigma (Jordan & Seale, 1905) and F. marmorata (Alleyn & Mecleay, 1876). All of them are very similar to each other in their meristic counts and body proportions, but differ from each other in specific colour patterns. In the course of research of animals living within branched corals in the Red Sea, a new species of Fowleria was found. The new species, F. abocellata, was compared with the other congeneric species (Red Sea material) and found to have a unique colour pattern which enabled this species to be easily distinguished from all the rest. Until now this species was collected from the corals Acropora humilis Dana and Acropora scandens (Klunzinger) at a depth of 3-10 meters. Several specimens of the new species were kept for several months in aquaria with other small fishes and provided with flowerpots and two Acropora scandens corals. The cardinal fish remained constantly among the coral branches, coming out only during feeding times, when they broke out for a second or two towards the prey (Artemia salinae (Linnaeus) and very small fishes). Abbreviations used: HUJ = Fish collection of Hebrew University Jerusalem; TAU = Fish collection of Tel Aviv University; RMNH = Fish collection of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden; SL = Standard length (in mm); TL = Total length (in mm). MATERIAL EXAMINED Fowleria abocellata n. sp. — Holotype : TAU 7377, Elat (Gulf of Elat - Sinai penin-