Four New Species Of The Genus Ophidion (Pisces: Ophidiidae) from The Western Atlantic Ocean

Abstract

Two common, unmarked species of Ophidion have been reported from the shallow coastal waters of the western Atlantic Ocean since the latter part of the 19th century. They are Ophidion holbrookii (Putnam, 1874) and Ophidion beani Jordan and Gilbert, 1883. Both names are based on the same species, and the species to which Ophidion beani was applied in the 1960's and later is undescribed. We also describe three additional species in this complex. This paper provides description to distinguish each of them from each other and from O. holbrookii, a species discussed in this paper only in a comparative sense.