I haven’t been fish-posting as much lately! Let’s get back into the swing of things with this lovely duo. Cirrhilabrus pylei and Cirrhilabrus briangreenei - two closely related sister species from the Western Pacific. 1/n

Cirrhilabrus pylei is found in Indonesia east to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, reaching its limit in Vanuatu. It’s sister species C. briangreenei replaces it in the Central Philippines, where it is especially common in the Verde Island Passage. 2/n

Both species are deepwater mesophotic specialists, who are incidentally named after deepwater mesophotic specialists, Richard Pyle and Brian Greene! This was not a coincidence. @CoralReefFish, Richard and I described and named C. briangreenei earlier this year honoring Brian 3/n

Richard and Brian are among the best mesophotic reef biologists of our time, and are very close like brothers. This cute sister-species -brotherly-duo was an attempt at etymological whimsy. Bit of nomenclatural trivia for you! 4/n

We wanted the name to be Cirrhilabrus greenei, but unfortunately, a Cirrhilabrus greeni already exist. To avoid nomenclatural confusion we opted for the slightly cumbersome C. briangreenei instead. But well worth it. The end. 5/5