A new fish species for Malta – the African hind (Cephalopholis taeniops) – has been observed and photographed at two locations off the Maltese Islands, Cirkewwa and off Exiles Point in Sliema, marine biologist Alan Deidun said.

He said the species belongs to the grouper family and has a very flamboyant and distinctive livery (body colouration) consisting of a red/orange and green body peppered with blue spots. It is native to the tropical Atlantic waters off the western coast of Africa. Such a fish can reach a maximum length of 70cm, but rarely exceeds the length of 40cm, and is recorded from depths ranging from 20m to 200m.

Dr Deidun said the marine biodiversity of the Maltese Islands is constantly being revised with new species being recorded.

"As the Mediterranean warms up, an increasing number of non-indigenous marine species colonise the Basin through the Suez Canal or the Straits of Gibraltar. Whilst the influx through the Suez Canal – the so-called Lessepsian migration – is much publicised, the Atlantic ' invasion' through the Straits of Gibraltar, though more subtle, is still very evident. Within the central Mediterranean region alone, for example, at least 13 exotic (non-indigenous) species of Atlantic origin have been recorded in recent years."

He said the latest discovery came in the wake of other fish 'novelties' recorded for the islands recorded in recent years (e.g. spotted scat – Zammit & Schembri, 2011; barred knifejaw – Schembri et al., 2010; African moonfish – Vella & Deidun, 2008) and other marine species, aside from fish, reported from the Maltese Islands for the first time, such as the upside-down jellyfish (Schembri et al., 2009) and the nomadic jellyfish (Deidun et al., 2011).