''Chirodactylus variegatus'', the Peruvian morwong or bilagai, is a species 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 ...

traditionally regarded as 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 ...

Cheilodactylidae Cheilodactylidae , commonly called morwongs but also known as butterfish, fingerfins, jackassfish, sea carp, snappers, and moki, is a family of marine ray-finned fish. They are found in subtropical oceans in the Southern Hemisphere. The common ...

, the members of which are commonly known as morwongs. It is found in the southeastern

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

off the western coast of South America.

Taxonomy

''Chirodactylus variegatus'' was first formally described in 1833 as ''Cheilodactylus variegatus'' by the French

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 ...

Achille Valenciennes Achille Valenciennes (9 August 1794 – 13 April 1865) was a French zoologist. Valenciennes was born in Paris, and studied under Georges Cuvier. His study of parasitic worms in humans made an important contribution to the study of parasitology. ...

with the type locality given as

Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

in Chile. When the American

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 ...

Theodore Nicholas Gill Theodore Nicholas Gill (March 21, 1837 – September 25, 1914) was an American ichthyologist, mammalogist, malacologist and librarian. Career Born and educated in New York City under private tutors, Gill early showed interest in natural history ...

initially described the genus ''

Chirodactylus ''Chirodactylus'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fish, traditionally regarded as belonging to the family Cheilodactylidae, the members of which are commonly known as morwongs. They are native to the Atlantic, Indian and eastern Pacific oceans of ...

'' in 1962 he included ''Cheilodactylus antonii'' as its

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 ...

, this was later shown to be a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

for ''C. variegatus''. Genetic and morphological analyses strongly support the validity of ''Chirodactylus'' as a genus and that the genus should be placed in the family

Latridae Latridae commonly called trumpeters, is a family of marine ray-finned fish. They are found in temperate seas in the Southern Hemisphere. The classification of the species within the Latridae and the related Cheilodactylidae is unclear.They a ...

. 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 ...

, however, retains the genus within the family Cheiloactylidae.

Description

''Chirodactylus variegatus'' is a medium-sized fish with a robust, slightly compressed body, the depth of the body is one third of the total length. The body is totally covered with ctenoid scales. It has a rather small head with small eyes and a small, subterminal mouth with thick lips. The overall colour of the body is greyish, darker dorsally and shading to blackish on the flanks and the belly is pale with a reddish tint. The sides are marked with 6-7 pale vertical bands there are similar coloured spots on and around the

caudal peduncle 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 se ...

. The fins are a vivid red-orange colour. It has thick, short pectoral fins, a continuous dorsal fin and a small anal fin with two spines free of the fin membrane. The

caudal 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 se ...

is forked. The Peruvian morwong reaches a maximum total length of and weight of .

Distribution

''C. variegatus'' is endemic to the subtropical southeastern Pacific Ocean, within the area bounded by 5°S to 37°S, and 81°W to 71°W . Its range extends southwards along the coast of South America, from

Paita Paita is a city in northwestern Peru. It is the capital of the Paita Province which is in the Piura Region. It is a leading seaport in the region. Paita is located 1,089 km northwest of the country's capital Lima, and 57 km northwest of ...

in Peru to

Talcahuano Talcahuano () (From Mapudungun ''Tralkawenu'', "Thundering Sky") is a port city and commune in the Biobío Region of Chile. It is part of the Greater Concepción conurbation. Talcahuano is located in the south of the Central Zone of Chile. Geo ...

in Chile.

Ecology

''C. variegatus'' occurs in small schools amongst the kelp forests of ''

Macrocystis integrifolia Macrocystis integrifolia was considered a distinct species of giant kelp in the genus ''Macrocystis ,'' based on blade and holdfast morphology. As of 2009, phycologists have collapsed ''Macrocystis integrifolia'' and the various other giant kel ...

'' which grow on rocks in the shallow

subtidal zone The neritic zone (or sublittoral zone) is the relatively shallow part of the ocean above the drop-off of the continental shelf, approximately in depth. From the point of view of marine biology it forms a relatively stable and well-illuminated ...

and the lower

intertidal zone The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore, is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide (in other words, the area within the tidal range). This area can include several types of habitats with various species o ...

on the coast of Chile. In a survey of the inhabitants of these kelp forests, there was found to be a wide diversity of

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

s and

crustacea 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 gro ...

ns, with the sea urchin ''

Tetrapygus niger ''Tetrapygus'' is a genus of sea urchins in the family Arbaciidae. It is a monotypic genus and the only species is ''Tetrapygus niger'' which was first described by the Chilean naturalist Juan Ignacio Molina in 1782. It is found in the southeast ...

'' and the gastropod ''

Tegula tridentata ''Tegula tridentata'' is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Tegulidae.Bouchet, P. (2013). Tegula tridentata (Potiez & Michaud, 1838). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org ...

'' being dominant. The most common fish was the herbivorous ''

Aplodactylus punctatus ''Aplodactylus punctatus'', the Zamba marblefish, is a species of marine ray finned fish, one of the marblefishes belonging to the family Aplodactylidae. It is found in the eastern Pacific Ocean of the west coast of South America. Taxonomy ''Ap ...

''. The main carnivorous fish were the Peruvian morwong, the Chilean sandperch (''Pinguipes chilensis''), the Cape redfish (''Sebastes capensis'') and the sea chub ''

Graus nigra ''Graus nigra'' is a species of sea chub endemic to the Pacific coast of South America, ranging from Valdivia in Chile to southern Peru. This species grows to a total length of . It is popular as a game fish. This species is the only known memb ...

''.

Uses

People of the

Chinchorro culture The Chinchorro culture of South America was a preceramic culture that lasted from 9,100 to 3,500 years BP (7,000 to 1,500 BCE). The people forming the Chinchorro culture were sedentary fishermen inhabiting the Pacific coastal region of current ...

who inhabited the arid coast of Chile some 3500 BP and built their culture around fishing, had sophisticated fishing equipment and their

midden A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofact ...

s show abundant remains of ''C. variegatus'', along with those of the clingfish ''

Sicyases sanguineus ''Sicyases sanguineus'' is a species of amphibious marine clingfish in the family Gobiesocidae. It lives in the Southeast Pacific along the entire coast of Chile and southern Peru. Locally, it is known as ' (literally, frog-fish). It inhabits sh ...

'', the Chilean sheepshead wrasse ''

Semicossyphus darwini ''Semicossyphus darwini'' is a species of ray-finned fish native to the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean. Common names include the Chilean sheepshead wrasse, the goldspot sheepshead or the Galapagos sheepshead wrasse. Description This is a large w ...

'' and

Labrisomid Labrisomids are small blennioids (blennies), percomorph marine fish belonging to the family Labrisomidae. Found mostly in the tropical Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, the family contains about 110 species in 15 genera. Stockier than the average bl ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2212094 variegatus Fish of the Pacific Ocean Taxa named by Achille Valenciennes Fish described in 1833