The alien Indo-Pacific damselfish, Neopomacentrus cyanomos, at Trinidad.

The Regal Demoiselle, Neopomacentrus cyanomos, is a common inhabitant of coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific. In mid-2013 this species was first discovered (and found to be widely distributed) on coral reefs in the southwest corner of the Gulf of Mexico (GoMx), adjacent to a large offshore oilfield. Prior to the present report this species had not been found outside the GoMx. This video documents the finding of that species at Trinidad, 3,300 km from the GoMx, at another offshore oilfield. As these two distant locations are the only west Atlantic sites N. cyanomos currently is known to occur the Trinidad finding supports the hypothesis that it was transported to tropical Atlantic oilfields by oil industry infrastructure being relocated from the Indo-Pacific.

Published August 9, 2019 on Zenodo repository https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3364568

Also available on Youtube at https://youtu.be/6BK0kcilX4Y

 Below are links to information cited in the video.

1. http://dx.doi.org/10.3391/bir.2014.3.1.09
2. http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.640.10862
3. https://youtu.be/VVlg6iakOXw
4. https://zenodo.org/record/58455
5. https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.aspx?SpeciesID=2936,
6. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4328
7. DOI: 10.1016/j.jmarsys.2016.06.008
8. Energy-Map-of-Trinidad-Tobago-2017.pdf
9. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-19/at-500-million-a-pop-it-s-an-oil-gamble-that-has-no-precedent