''Cociella'' 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 ...

Platycephalidae The Platycephalidae are a family of marine fish, most commonly referred to as flatheads. They are relatives of the popular lionfish, belonging to the order Scorpaeniformes. Taxonomy Platycephalidae was first proposed as a family in 1839 by the E ...

, the flatheads. These fishes are found in the

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

region.

Taxonomy

''Cociella'' was first proposed as a genus in 1940 by the Australian

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 ...

Gilbert Percy Whitley Gilbert Percy Whitley (9 June 1903 – 18 July 1975) was a British-born Australian ichthyologist and malacologist who was Curator of Fishes at the Australian Museum in Sydney for about 40 years. He was born at Swaythling, Southampton, England, an ...

as a replacement for ''Cocius'' which had been put forward by

David Starr Jordan David Starr Jordan (January 19, 1851 – September 19, 1931) was the founding president of Stanford University, serving from 1891 to 1913. He was an ichthyologist during his research career. Prior to serving as president of Stanford Univer ...

and

Carl Leavitt Hubbs Carl Leavitt Hubbs (October 19, 1894 – June 30, 1979) was an American ichthyologist. Biography Youth He was born in Williams, Arizona. He was the son of Charles Leavitt and Elizabeth (née Goss) Hubbs. His father had a wide variety of jobs (f ...

in 1925 but this name was unavailable as it was

preoccupied The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linn ...

by the

antlion The antlions are a group of about 2,000 species of insect in the neuropteran family Myrmeleontidae. They are known for the predatory habits of their larvae, which mostly dig pits to trap passing ants or other prey. In North America, the larvae ...

genus '' Cocius''., described by the Spanish

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

Longinos Navás Longinos Navás (7 March 1858 Cabacés, Tarragona – 31 December 1938 Girona) was a Spanish entomologist who specialised in Plecoptera and Neuropteroidea. Father Longinos Navás was a Jesuit priest. He published extensively on the Neu ...

in 1921. Jordan and Hubbs designated ''Platycephalus crocodilus'', a species described by Georges Cuvier in 1829 but no

types Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Typ ...

are known, as the type species of their genus and Whitley retained it as the type species of the replacement. The genus is classified within the family Playcephalidae, the flatheads. The name of the genus, ''Cociella'', is a

diminutive A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A (abbreviated ) is a word-formati ...

form of the original name coined by Jordan and Hubbs which is thought to be a latinisation of the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

name for flatheads and

dragonet Dragonets are small, percomorph, marine fish of the diverse family Callionymidae (from the Greek ''kallis'', "beautiful" and ', "name") found mainly in the tropical waters of the western Indo-Pacific. They are benthic organisms, spending most ...

Species

There are currently six recognised species in this genus: * '' Cociella crocodilus'' (

G. Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier was a major figure in nat ...

, 1829) (Crocodile flathead) * ''

Cociella heemstrai ''Cociella heemstrai'' is a species of demersal, marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Platycephalidae, the flatheads. It is found in the western Indian Ocean off eastern Africa and Madagascar. Its biology is little know but it is caught b ...

'' L. W. Knapp, 1996 * '' Cociella hutchinsi'' L. W. Knapp, 1996 (Brownmargin flathead) * '' Cociella martingomoni'' Imamura & Aungtonya, 2020 (Martin Gomon's flathead) * '' Cociella punctata'' (G. Cuvier, 1829) (Spotted flathead) * '' Cociella somaliensis'' L. W. Knapp, 1996 ''C. punctata'' was regarded as 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 ...

of ''C. crocodilus'', and ''C. heemstrai'', ''C. hutchinsi'' and ''C. somaliensis'' were previously regarded as geographic populations of ''C. crocodilus''.

Characteristics

''Cociella'' is characterised by having two separate patches of

vomerine teeth The vomer (; lat, vomer, lit=ploughshare) is one of the unpaired facial bones of the skull. It is located in the midsagittal line, and articulates with the sphenoid, the ethmoid, the left and right palatine bones, and the left and right maxill ...

and non depressible teeth in the jaws. The are more diagonal scale rows above the

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 ...

than there are lateral line scales. The lateral line scales are pored and have one opening. The lappet on the iris is a simple lobe and the side of the head has two ridges. There is a spine on the suborbital ridge below the middle of the eye and another under the rear of the eye. Spines may, or may not, be present behind the eye. The

preoperculum This glossary of ichthyology is a list of definitions of terms and concepts used in ichthyology, the study of fishes. A B C ...

has 3 spines with the upper spine being clearly the longest and lower having an accessory spine at its base. The maximum recorded total length is for ''C. crocodilus'' ''

sensu lato ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular co ...

'' and is . while the smallest maximum recorded total length is for ''C. hutchinsi'' at .

Distribution

''Cociella'' flatheads are found in the Indian and western Pacific Oceans from the eastern coast of Africa and the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...

east to

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

, north to Japan and south to Australia.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2070676 Platycephalidae Taxa named by Gilbert Percy Whitley