Ecsenius caeruliventris and E. shirleyae, two new species of blenniid fishes from Indonesia, and new distribution records for other species of Ecsenius

Abstract

Ecsenius caeruliventris is described from the Banggai and Togean islands, closely adjacent to the mid-NE coast of Sulawesi. Ecsenius shirleyae is described from various islands situated between 106 02 E and 05 08 S. Both species are members of the Prooculis species group of Ecsenius, which now comprises eight species and which are differentiated from each other solely on the basis of color patterns. All of the species are distributed allopatrically except for E. bimaculatus, which, in the southern part of its range, occurs sympatrically with E. caeruliventris and, probably, E. shirleyae. New distributional records are provided for several species of Ecsenius.