Collections from scallop trawling inside the Capricorn-
Bunker Group of subtropical eastern Australia have yielded
a distinctive new genus and species of aploactinid fish. It
appears to be highly restricted in distribution, with no other
specimens collected throughout the Australian region,
despite numerous trawl surveys covering similar depth
ranges and habitat.
A new species of the genus Cocotropus is also described,
expanding the largest genus of velvetfishes to 10 species:
C. echinatus (Cantor, 1849) from Malaysia, C. dermacanthus
(Bleeker, 1852) from Indonesia and the Seychelles,
C. roseus Day, 1875 from the Coromandel coast of India
and the Maldives, C. altipinnis Waite, 1903 from Lord Howe
and Kermadec Islands, C. monacanthus (Gilchrist, 1906)