''Neoniphon pencei'', or Pence's squirrelfish, is a species of

squirrelfish Holocentrinae is a subfamily of Holocentridae containing 40 recognized species and one proposed species. Its members are typically known as squirrelfish and all are nocturnal. All three genera in the subfamily are found in the Atlantic and ''Ho ...

found in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

in Rarotonga,

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

and

Mo'orea Moorea ( or ; Tahitian: ), also spelled Moorea, is a volcanic island in French Polynesia. It is one of the Windward Islands, a group that is part of the Society Islands, northwest of Tahiti. The name comes from the Tahitian word , meaning " ...

, French Polynesia. It differs from other species of the genus ''

Neoniphon ''Neoniphon'' is a genus of squirrelfishes. Species There are currently 6 recognized species in this genus: * '' Neoniphon argenteus'' Valenciennes, 1831 (Clearfin squirrelfish) * '' Neoniphon aurolineatus'' F. Liénard ( fr), 1839 (Yellowstrip ...

'' in number of lateral line scales, scales above and below lateral line, elements of life colour, and in COI and cytochrome b DNA sequences.

Etymology

The fish is named in honor of David F. Pence, the Dive Safety Officer for the University of Hawai‘i, and a member of the deep-diving team that not only discovered this species, but was able to collect the type specimens.

References

pencei Taxa named by Joshua M. Copus Taxa named by Richard Pyle Taxa named by John L. Earle Fish described in 2015 {{Beryciformes-stub