''Artedidraco'' is a

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 ...

of marine

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 hor ...

es 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 ...

Artedidraconidae The Artedidraconidae, barbeled plunderfishes, are a family of marine ray-finned fishes, notothenioids belonging to the Perciform suborder Notothenioidei. The family comprises four genera. These fishes are endemic to deep waters off Antarctica. ...

, the barbeled plunderfishes. They are native to the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-small ...

Taxonomy

''Artedidraco'' was first described as a genus in 1905 by the Swedish

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

Einar Lönnberg when he created the genus for ''Artedidraco mirus'', a new species of fish from

South Georgia South Georgia ( es, Isla San Pedro) is an island in the South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. Stretching in the east� ...

he was describing following the collection of its types by the Swedish Antarctic Expedition. As it was the only species in the enw genus it was the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

monotypy 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 ...

. The generic name is a compound of Artedi, honouring the Swedish naturalist Peter Artedi who was known as the “father of

ichthyology 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 Octob ...

,” and who was born 200 years before Lönnberg described ''A. mirus'' with ''draco'', from ''dracœna'' meaning “dragon” an

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

name for the

weeverfish Weevers (or weeverfish) are nine extant species of fishes of family Trachinidae, order Trachiniformes, part of the Percomorpha clade. They are long (up to 37 cm), mainly brown in color, and have venomous spines on their first dorsal fin ...

genus '' Trachinus'' , although this may be a reference to the relationship Lönnberg mentioned to ''

Draconetta The common slope dragonet (''Draconetta xenica'') is a species of slope dragonet native to the Indo-Pacific region where it can be found from Africa to the Hawaiian Islands. It is a benthic fish, occurring on sandy bottoms at the edges of the co ...

'' which was thought to be a member of the Nototheniidae at that time.

Species

There are currently 7 recognized species in this genus: * ''

Artedidraco glareobarbatus ''Artedidraco'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Artedidraconidae, the barbeled plunderfishes. They are native to the Southern Ocean. Taxonomy ''Artedidraco'' was first described as a genus in 1905 by the Swedish zo ...

'' Eastman &

Eakin Eakin is an English surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Bruce Eakin, Canadian ice-hockey player *Chris Eakin, British newsreader *Cody Eakin, Canadian ice-hockey player *Douglas Holtz-Eakin, American economist * Harvey Eakin, former ...

, 1999 * ''

Artedidraco longibarbatus ''Artedidraco'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Artedidraconidae, the barbeled plunderfishes. They are native to the Southern Ocean. Taxonomy ''Artedidraco'' was first described as a genus in 1905 by the Swedish zo ...

'' Eakin, Riginella & La Mesa, 2015 (Long-beard plunderfish) Eakin, R.R., Riginella, E. & La Mesa, M. (2015): A new species of ''Artedidraco'' (Pisces: Artedidraconidae) from the Weddell Sea, Antarctica. ''Polar Biology, 38 (10): 1597-1603.'' * ''

Artedidraco lonnbergi ''Artedidraco'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Artedidraconidae, the barbeled plunderfishes. They are native to the Southern Ocean. Taxonomy ''Artedidraco'' was first described as a genus in 1905 by the Swedish zo ...

'' Roule, 1913 * ''

Artedidraco mirus ''Artedidraco'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Artedidraconidae, the barbeled plunderfishes. They are native to the Southern Ocean. Taxonomy ''Artedidraco'' was first described as a genus in 1905 by the Swedish zo ...

'' Lönnberg, 1905 * ''

Artedidraco orianae ''Artedidraco'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Artedidraconidae, the barbeled plunderfishes. They are native to the Southern Ocean. Taxonomy ''Artedidraco'' was first described as a genus in 1905 by the Swedish zo ...

Regan The family name Regan, along with its cognates O'Regan, O Regan, Reagan, and O'Reagan, is an Anglicized form of the Irish surname Ó Riagáin or Ó Ríogáin, from Ua Riagáin. The meaning is likely to have originated in ancient Gaelic ''ri'' ...

, 1914 * ''

Artedidraco shackletoni ''Artedidraco'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the Family (biology), family Artedidraconidae, the barbeled plunderfishes. They are native to the Southern Ocean. Taxonomy ''Artedidraco'' was first described as a genus in 1905 ...

'' Waite, 1911 * '' Artedidraco skottsbergi'' Lönnberg, 1905

Characteristics

''Artedidraco'' is the type genus of the family Artedidraconidae and so has many of the features characteristic of that family. Within the Atredidraconidae this genus is separated from the others by the first

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 ...

being located above 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 ...

base. Their heads have a width which is roughly the same as their depth and the post temporal ridges are weakly developed. The snout is shorter than the diameter of the eye and the space between the eyes is narrow. The mental barbel, the barbel on the chin which characterises the barbeled plunderfishes, is tapered or expanded towards its tip. They have small jaws which are equipped with small conical teeth arranged in a band of many series of teeth. The upper

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelial ...

has tubed scales at the head end and towards the caudal fin it normally has disc shaped scales, the middle lateral line consist of disc-shaped scales.. 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 ...

of these fishes varies from in ''A. lonnbergi'' to in ''A. orianae''.

Distribution, habitat and biology

''Artedidraco'' is found in the coastal waters of the Antarctic continent with one species, ''A. mirus'' occurring as far north as South Georgia. They are found in the nearshore sublittoral zone and on the

continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an island ...

and have been recorded as deep as . Their biology is little known but the species in this genus feed largely on polychaetes and small

crustaceans Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2317420 Artedidraconidae Marine fish genera Taxa named by Einar Lönnberg