| Remarks |
The collection site is an extreme deep-water environment, characterised by a rough sea bottom, strong bottom current velocities, elevated temperatures of 21.5-22° C and increased salinities of 38-40 ppt, related to the outflow of deep Red Sea water above the seafloor into the Gulf of Aden. The new species represents a warm-adapted, Red Sea deep-water endemic. Gonad inspection of the female holotype revealed that it is mature with macroscopically well-developed ovaries. The fact that the oocytes were large and relatively few in number suggests that the spawning mode is benthic rather than pelagic. This would be consistent with the demersal life habit of the genus, and favour genetic isolation under the prevailing oceanographic conditions. Plectranthias klausewitzi is the first deep-dwelling species of the genus recorded from the Red Sea (Ref. 57792). |