Pontinus tentacularis

Pontinus tentacularis is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. It is found in the Indian and western Pacific Oceans.

Pontinus tentacularis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Scorpaeniformes
Family: Scorpaenidae
Genus: Pontinus
Species:
P. tentacularis
Binomial name
Pontinus tentacularis
(Fowler, 1938)
Synonyms[1]
  • Nemapontinus tentacularis Fowler, 1938
  • Pontius tentacularis (Fowler, 1938)

Taxonomy

Pontinus tentacularis was first formally described in 1938 by the American ichthyologist Henry Weed Fowler with the type being collected in region of northern Mindanao in the Philippines.[2] This species is thought by some authorities to be conspecific with P. rhodochrous and maybe P. macrocephalus.[3] The specific name tentacularis means "having tentacles", a reference to the tentacles above the eyes.[4]

Description

Pontinus tentacularishas an oval shaped compressed, body with a compressed head with a large mouth.[5] The body has a depth which is just over a quarter of its standard length.[6] There are well developed spines on the head and there are elongated supraorbital tentacles. The dorsal fin has 12 spines and 9 soft rays, the soft rayed part of the dorsal fin is rounded, The anal fin has 3 spines and 5 soft rays. The caudal fin is rounded. The colour is brown with darker and lighter shading with 5 dark saddle marks along the back but these do not extend onto the dorsal fin. The fins are light brown and the supraorbital tentacle is blackish.[5]

Distribution and habitat

Pontinus tentacularis is found in the Indian Ocean from the Réunion and Mauritius east to the Philippines in the western Pacific Ocean. It is a marine demersal fish which lives at depths between 170 and 600 m (560 and 1,970 ft).[6] This species occurs over seamounts and knolls.[7]

Observations

Pontinus tentacularis is harmless for humans.[6]

References
  1. "Catalogue of Life". catalogueoflife.org. Retrieved 2016-08-01.
  2. Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Pontinus". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  3. Bray, D.J. (2019). "Pontinus rhodochrous". Fishes of Australia. Museums Victoria. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  4. Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara, eds. (2 October 2021). "Order Perciformes (Part 9): Suborder Scorpaenoidei: Family Scorpaenidae". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  5. Fowler, H. W. (1938). "Descriptions of new fishes obtained by the United States Bureau of Fisheries steamer "Albatross", chiefly in Philippine seas and adjacent waters". Proceedings of the United States National Museum. 85 (3032): 31–135.
  6. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2021). "Pontinus tentacularis" in FishBase. April 2021 version.
  7. Nicolas Bailly (2008). "Pontinus tentacularis (Fowler, 1938)". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 25 January 2022.

Bibliography
  • Anonymous, 2001. Database of the collection of fishes of the National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution). Smithsonian Institution - Division of Fishes.
  • Wu, H.L., K.-T. Shao And C.F. Lai (eds.), 1999. Latin-Chinese dictionary of fishes names. The Sueichan Press, Taiwan.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.