Family KRAEMERIIDAE

Kraemeriidae

© Copyright Ros Poole.

Kraemeria merensis holotype

© Copyright G.P. Whitley 1935

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Introduction

Members of the Kraemeriidae, sand darts, are restricted to the Indo-west-central Pacific, where they bury themselves in sand, typically in drainage channels at the mouths of small creeks on islands. They are characterised by having an elongate body and a protruding lower jaw, with a distinctly enlarged chin. Maximum size reached is 7 cm, but most species are less than 5 cm in length.

Rofen (1958) revised the family and recognised two genera and nine species. One species is known from Australia, and although specimens are known from only few localities, it is likely that additional species will be discovered. The name Kraemeria samoensis has been widely applied in the Indo-Pacific to more than one species. The identity of the species recorded under that name from Cocos (Keeling) Islands by Allen & Smith Vaniz (1994) is uncertain. The family is thought to be close to very specialised gobiids (Hoese 1984) and recently molecular work includes them within the gobiids (Tornabene et al. 2013).

General References

Allen, G.R. & Smith-Vaniz, W.F. 1994. Fishes of Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Atoll Research Bulletin 412: 1-21 [17]

Hoese, D.F. 1984. Gobioidei: Relationships. pp. 588-591 in Moser, H.G. et al. (eds). Ontogeny and Systematics of Fishes. American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. Special Publication 1: 1-760

Rofen, R.R. 1958. The marine fishes of Rennell Islands. Natural History of Rennell Island, British Solomon Islands 1: 149-218

Tornabene, L., Chen, Y. & Pezold, F. 2013. Gobies are deeply divided: phylogenetic evidence from nuclear DNA (Teleostei: Gobioidei: Gobiidae). Systematics and Biodiversity 11(3): 345-361

Common Name References

Myers, R.F. 1999. Micronesian Reef Fishes. A comprehensive guide to the coral reef fishes of Micronesia. Guam : Coral Graphics vi 330 pp. 192 pls. [261] (Sand Darts)

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