A Review of the Genus Neobythites (Pisces, Ophidiidae) in the Atlantic, with Three New Species

A review of West Atlantic Neobythites material (812 specimens) has shown the existence of eight species: N. gilli Goode and Bean, 1885; N. marginatus Goode and Bean, 1886; N. ocellatus Günther, 1887; N. elongatus Nielsen and Retzer, 1994; N. unicolor Nielsen and Retzer, 1994; N. braziliensis n. sp.; N. monocellatus n. sp.; N. multidigitatus n. sp. The main diagnostic characters are number of preopercular spines, presence or absence of ocelli in dorsal fin and vertical and horizontal dark lines on dorsal fin or body, number of pectoral finrays and length of ventral fins. Previous authors have synonymized N. gilli and N. ocellatus but it is shown that they are clearly two species.