Whiskered prowfish
A Whiskered Prowfish, Neopataecus waterhousii, found washed ashore at Harmers Haven, Victoria, January 2020
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Scorpaeniformes
Family: Pataecidae
Genus: Neopataecus
Steindachner, 1884
Species:
N. waterhousii
Binomial name
Neopataecus waterhousii
(Castelnau, 1872)
Synonyms[1]
  • Pataecus waterhousii Castelnau, 1872

The whiskered prowfish (Neopataecus waterhousii) is a species of marine ray-finned fish, an Australian prowfish belonging to the family Pataecidae. It is endemic to the coastal waters of southern Australia. This species is the only member of the monotypic genus Neopataecus.

Taxonomy

The whiskered prowfish was first formally described in 1872 asPataecus waterhousii by the French naturalist Francis de Laporte de Castelnau with the type locality given as the St Vincent Gulf in South Australia.[2] In 1884 Franz Steindachner described a new subgenus of Aetapcus, Neopataecus, for this species and this is now considered to be a valid genus.[3]The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies the family Pataecidae, in which this genus is classified, within the suborder Scorpaenoidei which in turn is classified within the order Scorpaeniformes.[4] Other authorities place the Scorpaenoidei within the Perciformes.[5] A recent study placed the Australian prowfishes into an expanded stonefish clade, Synanceiidae, because all of these fish have a lachrymal sabre that can project a switch-blade-like mechanism out from underneath their eye.[6][7] The name of the genus prefixes Pataecus with neo, meaning “new”. The specific name honours Frederick George Waterhouse, curator at the South Australia Museum , the collector of the holotype.[8]

Description

The whiskered prowfish has an elongated, highly compressed body which tapers towards the tail and ends in a slender, elongated caudal peduncle. The head is large and the dorsal profile slopes at a slightly obtuse angle and the smallish eyes are set high on the head. The mouth is oblique with a band of tiny teeth on each jaw. There are no scales but there are a few warty projections on the body. There are small, thin fringe like growths on the underside of the head. There are 19-23 spines and 7-10 soft rays in the dorsal fin, which is continuous and tall with its origin in front of the eyes, joined by a membrane to the caudal peduncle but not the caudal fin. The anal fin is also long with its rays becoming longer towards the rear has 5-7 spines and 3-5 soft rays. The caudal fin has 9 rays and the pectoral fin has 8 rays, all of the rays in the fins are unbranched. The caudal fin is elongate in shape with the upper rays being shorter than the lower. The large pectoral fins are situated low on the body and extend past the anus and have clear incisions on their rear edges. The maximum total length of this species is 22 cm (8.7 in).[9] The colour of this fash may be orange or brown marked with pink or white blotches or red lines.[10]

Distribution and habitat

The whiskered prowfish is endemic to southern Australia where it is found from the Houtman Abrolhos in Western Australia east to Inverloch, Victoria and King Island, Tasmania. It occurs as deep as 40 m (130 ft), living in sheltered reefs among sponges, seaweeds and seagrasses, it has infrequently been observed in floating algae.[9]

Biology

The whiskered prowfish's biology is little known, they are slow moving and shed their skin at regular intervals, probably to remove encrusting organisms.[9]

References

  1. ↑ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2022). "Neopaaecus waterhousii" in FishBase. February 2022 version.
  2. ↑ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Neopataecus". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
  3. ↑ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Pataecinae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
  4. ↑ J. S. Nelson; T. C. Grande; M. V. H. Wilson (2016). Fishes of the World (5th ed.). Wiley. pp. 467–495. ISBN 978-1-118-34233-6.
  5. ↑ Ricardo Betancur-R; Edward O. Wiley; Gloria Arratia; et al. (2017). "Phylogenetic classification of bony fishes". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 17 (162): 162. doi:10.1186/s12862-017-0958-3. PMC 5501477. PMID 28683774.
  6. ↑ Smith, W. Leo; Smith, Elizabeth; Richardson, Clara (February 2018). "Phylogeny and Taxonomy of Flatheads, Scorpionfishes, Sea Robins, and Stonefishes (Percomorpha: Scorpaeniformes) and the Evolution of the Lachrymal Saber". Copeia. 106 (1): 94–119. doi:10.1643/CG-17-669. S2CID 91157582.
  7. ↑ Willingham, AJ (April 13, 2018). "Stonefish are already scary, and now scientists have found they have switchblades in their heads". CNN.
  8. ↑ Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara, eds. (10 March 2022). "Order Perciformes (Part 10): Suborder Scorpaenoidei: Families Apistidae, Tetrarogidae, Synanceiidae, Aploacrinidae, Perryenidae, Eschmeyeridae, Pataecidae, Gnathanacanthidae, Congiopodidae and Zanclorhynchidae". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  9. 1 2 3 Bray, D.J. (2020). "Neopataecus waterhousii". Fishes of Australia. Museums Victoria. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  10. ↑ Mark McGrouther (24 June 2019). "Whiskered Prowfish, Neopataecus waterhousii, (Castelnau, 1872)". Australian Museum. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
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