''Zappa confluentus'', the New Guinea slender mudskipper, is a
mudskipper
Mudskippers are any of the 23 extant species of amphibious fish from the subfamily Oxudercinae of the goby family Oxudercidae. They are known for their unusual body shapes, preferences for semiaquatic habitats, limited terrestrial locomotion an ...
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...
to
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...
, where it is only known from the lower parts of the
Fly,
Ramu
The Ramu River is a major river in northern Papua New Guinea. The headwaters of the river are formed in the Kratke Range from where it then travels about northwest to the Bismarck Sea.
Along the Ramu's course, it receives numerous tributaries ...
and
Bintuni
Bintuni (''Dutch: Steenkool'') is a small town and administrative district (''kecamatan'') in West Papua, Indonesia and seat of the Teluk Bintuni Regency. It comprises two villages (West Bintuni and East Bintuni) with a combined population of 13,7 ...
Rivers. It is found on
mudflats
Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal f ...
adjacent to turbid rivers. This species can reach a length of
SL.
Etymology
''Zappa'' was named after musician
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and satire of A ...
"for his articulate and sagacious defense of the
First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution".
See also
*
List of organisms named after famous people (born 1900–1949)
In biological nomenclature, organisms often receive scientific names that honor a person. A taxon (e.g. species or genus; plural: taxa) named in honor of another entity is an eponymous taxon, and names specifically honoring a person or persons a ...
References
Mudskippers
Fish of New Guinea
Taxa named by Tyson R. Roberts
Fish described in 1978
Frank Zappa
Oxudercinae
Endemic fauna of New Guinea
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