''Tosanoides obama'', Obama's basslet, is a coral reef fish

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

from the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Anthiadidae Anthias are members of the family Anthiadidae in the order Perciformes. The group has also been called Anthiidae or Anthiinae, but these names are preoccupied by a subfamily of ground beetles in the family Carabidae erected by Bonelli in 1813 ...

. It was discovered in

Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (PMNM) (roughly ) is a World Heritage Site, World Heritage listed National monument (United States), U.S. national monument encompassing of ocean waters, including ten islands and atolls of th ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. ''Tosanoides obama'' was named after former US President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

in honor of his efforts to preserve natural environments including expanding the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. It was first discovered and described by

Richard Pyle Richard Lawrence Pyle (born 24 March 1967) is a scuba diver and ichthyologist working on Hawaii. Pyle discovered the principle of " Pyle stops" when decompressing from many deep dives in search of new species of fish, and has identified hundred ...

, Brian Greene and Randall Kosaki in December 2016. They also noted a distinctive spot on the male's dorsal fin reminiscent of Obama's campaign logo. The fish live in small groups in holes in reefs at a depth of around 90 m. Following the discovery the size of the reserve was increased. This fish also looks like damselfishes, not to be confused. ''Tosanoides obama'' is one of six species in the genus ''

Tosanoides ''Tosanoides'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fish in the family (biology), family Anthiadidae. They are found in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Species There are currently six recognized species in this genus: * ''Tosanoides annepatrice'' R ...

''.

References

obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. Ob ...

Fish of the United States Natural history of Hawaii Taxa named by Richard Pyle Taxa named by Brian Greene Taxa named by Randall Kosaki Fish described in 2016 {{Anthiadidae-stub

See also

References