Antilligobius, Van Tassell & Tornabene, 2012

Antilligobius View in CoL clade

Discussion Te genera Antilligobius and Palatogobius represent a clade of mesophotic gobies in the tropical West Atlantic generally occurring at depths of about 100 m to 300 m ( Tornabene & Baldwin, 2017; Tornabene et al., 2016). Tey are shown as the sister group to genera here combined in the Akko and Microgobius clades of Tornabene et al. (2016) or the Bollmannia clade ( Tornabene et al., 2022). Antilligobius is monospecific with A. nikkiae Van Tassell & Colin, 2012 ( Fig. 24a–b View Fig ), and Palatogobius contains three species, two of which are small, and otoliths are known from the largest, P. grandoculus Greenfield, 2002 ( Fig. 25a View Fig ).

Te otoliths of the two genera share certain features that, despite their generally small size, mostly distinguish them well from juveniles of other gobiid taxa of the region. Tese features are the high-bodied shape with an OL:OH ratio of about 1.0 or less, a low sulcus inclination angle of 12° or less (mostly <10°), and the stretch from the preventral to the postventral angle being longer than from the high-positioned predorsal angle to the postdorsal tip (no distinct postdorsal projection developed). Tis morphological pattern is reasonably similar to otoliths of the Akko and Microgobius clades and thus supports the phylogenetic analysis of Tornabene et al. (2016).