Striped Hamlet (Hypoplectus liberte), Fort Liberte Bay, Haiti, © Ken Marks 2018
In the fall of 2018, AGRRA Database Manager Ken Marks helped Benjamin Victor describe a new fish species, Striped Hamlet (Hypoplectus liberte) in Fort Liberte Bay on the northern coast of Haiti that had been initially discovered in 2015.
While surveying with our partners, The Nature Conservancy, AGRRA fish surveyors Dave Grenda and Ken Marks, also the AGRRA Database Manager, noticed this unusual Striped hamlet in Fort Liberte Bay on Haiti’s northern coast. Striped Hamlet (Hypoplectus liberte), the newest member of the fascinating hamlet family as photographed in the muddy sponge-dominated bay where this species was discovered in 2015, was finally described in 2018.
Initially thought to be an novel hybrid (hybrids are common in this genus), the sightings of many individuals soon made it apparent that this was a new species endemic to just that bay.
For more information on this discovery, see Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation, Reefs.com and Reef Builders.
See the 2016 report from the work conducted in Haiti: Haiti Three Bays National Park Ecological Baseline . This report is also accessible from the Resources page.