The genus Hypoplectrus Gill (Serranidae), endemic to the Caribbean, is a group of reef fishes that are fascinating because of their bright and varied color patterns. This genus consists of at least 17 species that are described mainly based on their differences in coloration (^{Poey, 1852}; Acero and Garzón-Ferreira, 1994; ^{Domeier, 1994}; ^{Puebla et al., 2007}; ^{Holt et al., 2010}; Lobel et al., 2011; Tavera and Acero, 2012; ^{Robertson et al., 2015}). These differences explain the wide use of this group in studies focused on evolutionary and adaptive processes (^{Whiteman et al., 2007}; ^{Aguilar-Perera and Gonzalez-Salas, 2010}; Holt et al., 2010). The coloration-based taxonomy coincides with the genetic structure generated using microsatellite markers (^{McCartney et al., 2003}) and amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) (^{Barreto and McCartney, 2007}), thereby showing that mate selection involving a pigmentation pattern has the capacity to generate sympatric speciation processes (^{Salzburger, 2008}; Puebla et al., 2012).

In the Colombian Caribbean, ten species have been recorded (^{Heemstra et al., 2002}, Acero and Garzón- Ferreira, 1994, ^{Robertson et al., 2015}); five of these occur in both the insular and continental regions (H. aberrans, H. guttavarius, H. nigricans, H. puella and H. unicolor), among which H. puella, H. unicolor and H. nigricans stand out because of their relative abundance and wide distribution (Acero and Garzón-Ferreira, 1994). Hypoplectrus chlorurus (Cuvier) is a species that is distributed along coastal reefs among the islands of Venezuela, the Lesser Antilles to Cuba, the Bahamas and a part of the Gulf of Mexico (^{Heemstra et al., 2002}; Chevalier and González-Sansón, 2005; Aguilar- Perera et al., 2010); in Puerto Rico, this species was recorded by ^{Holt et al. (2010)}. Recently, ^{Bolaños-Cubillos et al. (2015)} recorded H. chlorurus from the western Caribbean island of Providence and in Roncador. In the southwestern continental Caribbean, the species has been detected only in Panama (^{Aguilar-Perera et al., 2010}).

The species had not been observed along the continental coast of the Colombian Caribbean; therefore, the present communication represents a contribution to the knowledge of the country’s fish diversity and the biogeography of Hypoplectrus. On January 29, 2014, a specimen of the genus Hypoplectrus that had been discarded by a local fisherman was collected in Bahía Concha (11°18ꞌ9.68ꞌꞌN and 74°8ꞌ58.29ꞌW). The fish was preserved on ice and transferred to the laboratory of the National University of Colombia in the Center for Studies in Marine Sciences (Cecimar), located at the Marine and Coastal Research Institute of Colombia, where the specimen was analyzed. After observing its color patterns, the conclusion was reached that this individual corresponded to the description given for the species Hypoplectrus chlorurus: fish with head, body and dorsal, anal and pelvic fins of dark brown color from bluish to blackish; yellow or transparent caudal fin; and pectoral fins varying from black to yellowish (Figure 1). The specimen was then fixed in 10% formalin and preserved in 70% ethanol.

Figure 1 Hypoplectrus chlorurus specimen collected in Bahía Concha, Tayrona National Natural Park. 

The collected specimen had a standard length (SL) of 115.6 mm, a total length (TL) of 144.3 mm (which is close to the maximum size of 15 cm recorded for the species), a head length (HL) of 44.4 mm and a body weight (BW) of 51.5 g (Table 1). The collected fish was photographed, weighed and measured with a caliper; and its meristic and morphometric characteristics were duly annotated following Acero and Garzón (1994). The specimen is deposited in the Museum of Marine Natural History of Colombia (INV-PEC).

Table 1 Meristics and morphometry of the Hypoplectrus chlorurus individual collected in Bahía Concha, Colombian Caribbean. 

Additional abbreviations used for the presentation of the meristic and morphometric data include those for the following terms: snout length (SnL), upper jaw length (UJL), body height (BH), caudal peduncle height (CPH), horizontal diameter of the eye (HDE), interorbital distance (IOD), dorsal fin (DF), pre-dorsal-fin length (preDFL), dorsal fin base length (DFBL), anal fin (AF), pre-anal-fin length (preAFL), anal fin base length (AFBL), pectoral fin (PcF), pre-pectoral-fin length (prePcFL), pectoral fin base length (PcFBL), pelvic fin (PvF), pre-pelvic-fin length (prePvFL), pelvic fin base length (PvFBL) and gill rakers (GRs). The meristic data are presented according to the ichthyological and morphometric conventions in percentages of the SL.