The world’s smallest vertebrate, Schindleria brevipinguis, a new paedomorphic species in the family Schindleriidae (Perciformes: Gobioidei)
Abstract
Schindleria brevipinguis n.sp., from the Lizard Island-Carter Reef vicinity of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia and from Osprey Reef nearby in the Coral Sea, is a small, unpigmented gobioid species distinctive in having fewer dorsal- and anal-fin rays and a deeper body with larger eyes than the other described species, S. pietschmanni and S. praematura. The urogenital papilla of male S. brevipinguishas a markedly different shape from those of the other two species. Schindleria brevipinguis apparently provides an even more extreme example of paedomorphosis than its congeners, and with males maturing by 7 mm and the largest specimen only 8.4 mm, it almost certainly is the world's smallest fish and smallest vertebrate.
