Cryptic Diversity in Scorpaenodes xyris (Jordan & Gilbert 1882) (Scorpaeniformes: Scorpaenidae) Throughout the Tropical Eastern Pacific.

The tropical eastern Pacific (TEP) is a biogeographic region with a substantial set of isolated oceanic islands and mainland shoreline habitat barriers, as well as complex oceanographic dynamics due to major ocean currents, upwelling areas, eddies, and thermal instabilities. These characteristics have shaped spatial patterns of biodiversity between and within species of reef and shore fishes of the region, which has a very high rate of endemism. Scorpaenodes xyris, a small ecologically cryptic reef-dwelling scorpionfish, is widely distributed throughout the TEP, including all the mainland reef areas and all the oceanic islands.