Oxyurichthys petersii

Oxyurichthys petersii is grey-blue in colour marked with blue spots and streaks on the head and the body. It does not have the vertical bars seen in Oxyurichthys papuensis, with which it has been confused. The caudal fin is reddish with a dark edge and there is a dark spot on the caudal peduncle. The pelvic fins are bluish marked with yellow spots and lines and the pectoral fins are yellowish in colour with white spots while the dorsal and anal fins are either transparent or have a reddish hue and have blue lines. Caudal fin reddish with dark margin.[2] The ventral surface is whitish. The first dorsal fin is low with the tips of the spines extending beyond the membrane and these may be longer in males than in females.[3]

Oxyurichthys petersii is native to the Red Sea, it was first recorded in the Mediterranean in 1982 off Ashdod[4] and it is now common throughout the eastern Mediterranean from Israel to the Aegean Sea.[5]

Oxyurichthys petersii lives on soft bottoms[2] and is a carnivorous species which has been found to have sand and mud in their intestinal tract which suggest they feed on the bottom. Animals found in samples include formaniferans, harpactoid copepods, tanaidaceans, amphipods, isopods, ostracods, molluscs and echinoderms. The gonads of fish sampled in August and November off Israel were well developed.[3]

The specific name honours the German naturalist and explorer Wilhelm Peters (1815-1883) who was a curator at the Berlin Zoological Museum and who allowed the author of this species liberal access to the Museum's collection.[6]