Stout Floater, Schindleria brevipinguis Watson & Walker 2004

Other Names: Stout Infantfish

Cite this page as:

https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4731.4.1, Schindleria brevipinguis in Fishes of Australia, accessed 27 Jun 2025, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/Home/species/2950

Stout Floater, Schindleria brevipinguis Watson & Walker 2004

More Info

Distribution	Lizard Island area, Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, and Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea. Elsewhere the species occurs in the Ryukyu Islands, Japan. Specimens were collected in oblique plankton net tows from the Great Barrier Reef and Osprey Reef lagoons in waters ranging from 15-30 m deep.
Features	Dorsal fin 13; Anal fin 10-11; Vertebrae 20 + 15-16 = 35-36. Body small, stout, unpigmented; depth at pectoral-fin origin 9-12% of standard length, at anal-fin origin 9-14% SL. First dorsal-fin ray at myomere 18-20 and first anal-fin ray below dorsal-fin ray 4. Myomeres 19-20 + 14-16 = 34-36. Teeth absent from premaxillae and dentaries. Males with a rod-like, flexible urogenital papilla lacking lobes, projections, or accessory papillae, with distal half tapering to a blunt point and usually anteriorly directed.
Similar Species
Etymology	The specific name brevipinguis is from the Latin brevis (= short) and pinguis (= stout), in reference to the deeper, broader body compared with the other Schindleria species.
Species Citation	Schindleria brevipinguis Watson & Walker 2004, Records of the Australian Museum 56: 140, fig. 1. Type locality: Vicinity of Carter Reef, Queensland, Australia, 14°33.5'S, 145°35'E.
Author	https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4731.4.1
Resources	Atlas of Living Australia Australian Faunal Directory Catalog of Fishes

Stout Floater, Schindleria brevipinguis Watson & Walker 2004

References

Ahnelt, H., Macek, O. & Robitzch, V. 2024. Schindleria nana, a new extremely progenetic gobiid fish species (Teleostei: Gobiiformes: Gobiidae) from Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Journal of Vertebrate Biology 73: 23112 https://doi.org/10.25225/jvb.23112

Ahnelt, H. & Sauberer, M. 2018. A new species of Schindler’s fish (Teleostei: Gobiidae: Schindleria) from the Malay Archipelago (Southeast Asia), with notes on the caudal fin complex of Schindleria. Zootaxa 4531(1): 95-108. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4531.1.4

Ahnelt, H. & Sauberer, M. 2020. Deep-water, offshore, and new records of Schindler’s fishes, Schindleria (Teleostei, Gobiidae), from the Indo-west Pacific collected during the Dana-Expedition, 1928–1930. Zootaxa 4731(4): 451-470. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4731.4.1

Kon, T. & Yoshino, T. 2002. Extremely early maturation found in Okinawan gobioid fishes. Ichthyological Research 49: 224-228. https://doi.org/10.1007/s102280200031

Kon, T., Yoshino, T. & Nishida, M. 2011. Cryptic species of the gobioid paedomorphic genus Schindleria from Palau, western Pacific Ocean. Ichthyological Research 58(1): 62-66 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-010-0178-y

Watson, W. 2010. Schindleria brevipinguis (errata version published in 2017). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2010: e.T154692A115222849. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-4.RLTS.T154692A4608027.en. Accessed on 10 April 2024.

Watson, W. & Walker, H.J. 2004. The world's smallest vertebrate, Schindleria brevipinguis, a new paedomorphic species in the family Schindleriidae (Perciformes: Gobioidei). Records of the Australian Museum 56: 139-142. https://doi.org/10.3853/j.0067-1975.56.2004.1429