The bugeye dottyback (''Amsichthys knighti''), also known as Knight's dottyback, is a species of
ray-finned fish
Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species.
The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or h ...
, the only species in the
monospecific
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 living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
''Amsichthys'', belonging to the
subfamily Pseudoplesiopinae
Pseudoplesiopinae is a subfamily of the family Pseudochromidae, the dottybacks, it consists of small species of coral-reef inhabiting fish which are distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific.
Characteristics
Workers have established that this s ...
, of the
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
Pseudochromidae. It is found in the Indo-Pacific region.
[
]
Description
The bugeye dottyback is a small, rarely seen species of dottyback
The dottybacks are a family, Pseudochromidae, of fishes which were formerly classified in the order Perciformes, but this has been revised and the family is regarded as of uncertain affinities, or ''incertae sedis'' within the Ovalentaria, a cl ...
which varies in colour from a uniform yellow through to brown. It has a pinkish snout and brown individuals have a yellow caudal fin.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 ...
of in males.[
]
Distribution
The bugeye dottyback is found in the Indo-Pacific region from western Thailand east through the Malay Archipelago to the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...
and Wallis Island
Wallis ( Wallisian: ''Uvea'') is a Polynesian atoll/island in the Pacific Ocean belonging to the French overseas collectivity (''collectivité d'outre-mer'', or ''COM'') of Wallis and Futuna. It lies north of Tonga, northeast of Fiji, east-n ...
, south to northern Australia and north to southern Japan.[ In Australia it is distributed from Scott Reef in ]Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
to the Capricorn Islands in Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, establishe ...
.[
]
Biology
The bugeye dottyback occurs in coastal reef slopes where it inhabits areas of algal growth among boulders down to depths of and it is also found in inshore reefs. It is a secretive and shy species which is most often recorded when piscicide
A piscicide is a chemical substance which is poisonous to fish. The primary use for piscicides is to eliminate a dominant species of fish in a body of water, as the first step in attempting to populate the body of water with a different fish. They ...
s are used to collect specimens.[
]
Name
The genus name compounds the initials of the Australian Museum
The Australian Museum is a heritage-listed museum at 1 William Street, Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. It is the oldest museum in Australia,Design 5, 2016, p.1 and the fifth oldest natural history museum in the ...
, Sydney, the "AMS" with the greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
word for "fish@, ''ichthys'', ''Amsichthys''. The specific name honours Ronald Knight, Sr. of Manus, Papua New Guinea, who provided hospitality to Gerald R. Allen when he was on a collecting trip in 1982.type specimen
In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes th ...
was collected was the Ribbon Reef, part of the Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...
.[
]
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5655575
Pseudoplesiopinae