The Alert pigfish (''Alertichthys blacki'') is a species of marine ray finned fish, a pigfish belonging to the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Congiopodidae Congiopodidae, commonly known as pigfishes, horsefishes and racehorses, is a family of ray-finned fish classified with in the order Scorpaeniformes. These fishes are native to the Southern Hemisphere. Taxonomy Congiopodidae was first formally ...

. It is the only species in the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

''Alertichthys''. This species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the waters around

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Taxonomy

The Alert pigfish was first formally described in 1960 by the New Zealand

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octobe ...

John Munne Moreland John "Jock" Munne Moreland (b 11 January 1921 Wanganui d. June 2012) was a New Zealand marine biologist and ichthyologist who worked at the Dominion Museum, later the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, in Wellington. Career He was brought up ...

with they type locality given as east of the Otago Peninsula at 45°47'S, 171°7'E. Moreland placed his new species in the

genus ''Alertichthys''. The 5th edition of ''

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' by the American ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011) is a standard reference for fish systematics. Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of the diversity and classification of the ...

'' classifies ''Alertichthys'' within the family Congiopodidae but other authorities classify this genus and ''

Zanclorhynchus ''Zanclorhynchus'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Congiopodidae, the pigfishes or horsefishes. These fishes are found in the Southern Ocean. Taxonomy ''Zanclorhynchus'' was first described as a genus in 1880 by th ...

'' within the family Zanclorhynchidae. These fishes are classified within the subfamily

Scorpaenoidei Scorpaenoidei is a suborder of ray-finned fishes, part of the order Scorpaeniformes, that includes the scorpionfishes, lionfishes and velvetfishes. This suborder is at its most diverse in the Pacific and Indian Oceans but is also found in the A ...

within the order Scorpaeniformes. in the Fishes of the World but other authorities place the Scorpaenoidei within the Perciformes. The genus name is a combination of ''Alert'', the name of the research vessel the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

was collected on, and ''ichthys'', Greek for "fish", while the

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

honours Alex J. Black of

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, the owner and captain of the ''M/V Alert''.

Description

The Alert pigfish has a relatively long snout with a small terminal mouth. The body has rough, leathery skin with no no scales. The continuous

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through conv ...

is long based. The 2 anal fin spines are absent in the sympatric ''

Congiopodus ''Congiopodus'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Congiopodidae, the pigfishes or horsefishes. These fishes are found in the southern Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Taxonomy Congiopodus was first formally described as ...

'' species. The maximum

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology. Overall length * Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish ...

is . The overall colour is silvery grey, paler on the lower body and with a dark forward margin to the

pectoral fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as ...

Distribution and habitat

The Alert pigfish is known only from the waters of southern and central New Zealand as far north as the Chatham Rise. It is a

demersal fish Demersal fish, also known as groundfish, live and feed on or near the bottom of seas or lakes (the demersal zone).Walrond Carl . "Coastal fish - Fish of the open sea floor"Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 2 March 2009 They occ ...

which lives at depths between .

References

* * * Tony Ayling & Geoffrey Cox, ''Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand'', (William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1982) {{Taxonbar, from=Q2701055 Congiopodidae Endemic marine fish of New Zealand Fish described in 1960