Paralonchurus

Paralonchurus is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Sciaenidae, the drums and croakers. These fishes are found in the eastern Pacific Ocean with one species in the western Atlantic Ocean.

Paralonchurus
Paralonchurus petersii
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Acanthuriformes
Family: Sciaenidae
Genus: Paralonchurus
Boucourt, 1869
Type species
Paralonchurus petersii
Bocourt, 1869[1]
Synonyms[1]

Taxonomy

Paralonchurus was first proposed as a monospecific genus in 1869 by the French zoologist and artist Marie Firmin Bocourt when he described Paralonchurus petersii as its only species.[1] Bocourt gave the type locality as La Unión, El Salvador.[2] The genus Paralonchurus is included in the subfamily Micropogoninae by some workers,[3] but the 5th edition of Fishes of the World does not recognise subfamilies within the Sciaenidae, which it places in the order Acanthuriformes.[4]

Etymology

Paralonchurus combines para, which means "near", with Lonchrurus, a genus that shares some features with Paralonchurus such as the absence of pseudobranchiae.[5]

Species

Paralonchurus has the following valid species classified within it:[6]

  • Paralonchurus brasiliensis (Steindachner, 1875) (Banded croaker)
  • Paralonchurus dumerilii (Bocourt, 1869) (Suco croaker)
  • Paralonchurus goodei Gilbert, 1898 (Goode croaker)
  • Paralonchurus peruanus (Steindachner, 1875) (Peruvian banded croaker)
  • Paralonchurus petersii Bocourt, 1869 (Peters' banded croaker)
  • Paralonchurus rathbuni (Jordan & Bollman, 1890) (Bearded banded croaker)

Some authorities classify the blackfin croaker (Lonchurus elegans) in the genus Paralonchurus and this makes the genus Lonchurus into a monospecific genus.[2][7]

Characteristics

Paralonchurus croakers have elongated bodies with a rounded back and a narrow, low head with ablunt and wide snout, belwo which is a horizontal mouth. They have small eyes and there are 5 pores and 3 pairs of barbels on the chin. There are between 8 and 22 thin barbels along the median margin of the lower jaw. There is a incision in the upper lip. The preoperculum may be either smooth or finely serrated. There is a deep incision separating the first, spiny part of the dorsal fin, supported by 9 or 10 slim spines, and the soft rayed part, supported by between 28 and 31 soft rays. The anal fin is supported by 2 spines and between 7 and 9 soft rays. The caudal fin is bluntly pointed.[8] The maximum published total length for this genus is 51 cm (20 in) for the Peruvian banded croaker (L. peruanus) while the smallest species is the beraded banded croaker with a maximum publsihed total length of 30 cm (12 in).[6]

Distribution

Paralonchurus croakers are found off the Americas with five of the six species occurring in the eastern Pacific Ocean between Mexico and Peru and one species, P. brasiliensis occurring from Panama to southern Brazil in the western Atlantic Ocean.[6]

References
  1. Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Sciaenidae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  2. Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Paralonchurus". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  3. Kunio Sasaki (1989). "Phylogeny of the family Sciaenidae, with notes on its Zoogeography (Teleostei, Peciformes)" (PDF). Memoirs of the Faculty of Fishes Hokkaido University. 36 (1–2): 1–137.
  4. J. S. Nelson; T. C. Grande; M. V. H. Wilson (2016). Fishes of the World (5th ed.). Wiley. pp. 497–502. ISBN 978-1-118-34233-6.
  5. Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara, eds. (9 March 2023). "Series Eupercaria (Incertae sedis): Families Callanthidae, Centrogenyidae, Dinopercidae, Emmelichthyidae, Malacanthidae, Monodactylidae, Moronidae, Parascorpididae, Sciaenidae and Sillagidae". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  6. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2023). Species of Paralonchurus in FishBase. February 2023 version.
  7. Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Lonchurus". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  8. "Genus: Paralonchurus, Croakers, Croaker". Shorefishes of the Greater Caribbean online information system. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
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