Suborder Gobioidei Phylum Chordata Order Perciformes | Family Schindleriidae Scientific name Schindleria brevipinguis Rank Species | |
 | ||
Similar Schindleria, Photocorynus spiniceps, Paedocypris progenetica, Paedocypris, Virgin Islands dwarf sph | ||
Schindleria brevipinguis is a species of marine fish in family Schindleriidae of Perciformes. Known as the stout infantfish, it is native to Australia's Great Barrier Reef and to Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea.
S. brevipinguis is the third smallest known fish after Paedocypris progenetica and Pandaka pygmaea. The species grows to a maximum total length of 8.4 millimetres (0.33 in), with males being mature at a length of 7 millimetres (0.28 in); the smallest vertebrate species currently is the recently (Jan 2012) described frog Paedophryne amauensis, while the parasitic males of the anglerfish Photocorynus spiniceps are but 6.2 millimetres (0.24 in) long. S. brevipinguis is distinguished from the similar S. praematura by having its first anal-fin ray further forward, under dorsal-fin 4, rather than 7–11 in S. praematura.
The specific epithet, brevipinguis, derives from the Latin brevis (short) and pinguis (stout), in reference to the fish's shorter, thicker body, as compared with other Schindleria species.
The first specimen was collected by Jeff Leis in 1979, but the species was not formally described until a 2004 paper (Watson and Walker).
The discovery of S. brevipinguis relegated to second place the previous smallest known vertebrate, Trimmatom nanus, a dwarf goby of the western Indian Ocean.
