Gramma dejongiis a spankin new reef fish species that was discovered byDejong Marinelifefrom some shipments of aquarium fish from Cuba. The newGramma dejongi物种已经被德琼一直保密awaiting formal description by Jack Randall. Since the newGrammaspecies was brought to light by Arie Dejong and his staff, the fish has been described asGramma dejongi.
The beautiful Cuban reef fish looks like a perfect royal gramma in shape, Gramma loreto, although the body is all yellow with the purple color reduced to just the anterior of the dorsal fin, the pelvic fins and base thereof with magenta color creeping up to just under the chin of Gramma dejongi. The obvious beauty of the new Gramma dejongi aside, for Americans it brings in focus the implications of our trade embargo with Cuba, without which American Carribean fish dealers would surely have discovered this species decades ago.
Furthermore, Cuba is a very large island and we have to ask ourselves what other beautiful reef fish still remain to be discovered in the reef waters of Cuba. At the moment there is no legal way for Americans to call up their local Cuban reef fish dealer, and we’ll likely have to wait our turn as Dejong ships this startling newGrammaspecies to collectors worldwide.
