Coral Reef Ecology & Biodiversity
Research Highlight: “Exploring the hidden diversity of Red Sea gobies”
Lead scientist: Viktor Nunes Peinemann, PhD student
Viktor’s research investigates the diversity and evolution of Red Sea coral reef fishes with a focus on gobies. With over 140 species, gobies are by far the richest family of fishes in the Red Sea. Despite their great diversity, abundance, and critical ecological roles in Red Sea reefs, they have remained relatively overlooked. Viktor is working on building a comprehensive collection of Red Sea gobies with voucher specimens, photographs, DNA, and ecological information. Combined with smaller collections throughout the Indo-Pacific, this allows us to investigate the evolution and cryptic speciation of this diverse group of fishes. The Red Sea is one of the world's hot spots of marine endemism and Viktor’s research is revealing undescribed endemism in the most diverse Red Sea fish family. In addition to discovering cryptic endemic species, new species, and species of conservation concern, this research can provide insights into broader evolutionary patterns between the Red Sea and the rest of the Indo-Pacific.
Peinemann, VN; Pombo-Ayora, L; Tornabene, L; Berumen, ML (2024) The Grumpy dwarfgoby, a new species of Sueviota (Teleostei, Gobiidae) from the Red Sea. ZooKeys 1212, 17-28
Pombo-Ayora, L; Peinemann, VN; Cochran, JEM; Eweida, AA; Marshall, PA; Berumen, ML (2024) Diversity, functional redundancy, and vulnerability of reef fish communities of the Saudi Arabian coast, in the northern Red Sea. Regional Studies in Marine Science 78, 103798
Villalobos, R; Aylagas, E; Pearman, JK; Curdia, J; Coker, D; Bell, AC; Brown, SD; Rowe, K; Lozano-Cortés, D, Rabaoui, LJ; Marshall, A; Qurban, M; Jones, B; Berumen, ML; Carvalho, S (2024) Biodiversity patterns of the coral reef cryptobiota around the Arabian Peninsula. Scientific Reports 14, 9532
Brandl, SJ; … Coker, DJ; … Berumen, ML; … Parenti, LR (2023) Using standardized fish-specific autonomous reef monitoring structures (FARMS) to quantify cryptobenthic fish communities. Methods in Ecology and Evolution
Peinemann, VN; Pombo-Ayora, L; Cochran, JEM; Marchese, F; Chimienti, G; Rodrigue, M; Eweida, AA; Marshall, P; Benzoni, F; Berumen, ML (2022) First record of Boulenger's anthias Sacura boulengeri (Heemstra 1973) in the Red Sea. Journal of Fish Biology
Pombo-Ayora, L; Peinemann, VN; Williams, CT; He, S; Lin, YJ; Iwatsuki, Y; Bradley, DDC; Berumen, ML (2022) Acanthopagrus oconnorae, a new species of seabream (Sparidae) from the Red Sea. Journal of Fish Biology, 1-13
Coker, DJ; DiBattista, JD; Sinclair-Taylor, TH; Berumen, ML. (2017) Spatial patterns of cryptobenthic coral-reef fishes in the Red Sea. Coral Reefs 37(1): 193-199