The marbled spinefish (''Cottapistus cottoides''), also known as the yellow waspfish, is a species of ray-finned fish, a

waspfish Tetraroginae is a subfamily of marine ray-finned fishes, commonly known as waspfishes or sailback scorpionfishes, belonging to the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes and their relatives. These fishes are native to the Indian Ocean and the W ...

belonging to the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

Tetraroginae of the family

Scorpaenidae The Scorpaenidae (also known as scorpionfish) are a family of mostly marine fish that includes many of the world's most venomous species. As their name suggests, scorpionfish have a type of "sting" in the form of sharp spines coated with venom ...

, the scorpionfishes and their relatives. It is the only species in the monotypic genus ''Cottapistus''. This species is found in the Indo-West Pacific.

Taxonomy

The marbled stingfish was first formally described as ''Perca cottoides'' in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his ''

Systema Naturae ' (originally in Latin written ' with the ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the system, now known as binomial nomen ...

''. Linnaeus did not give a

type locality Type locality may refer to: * Type locality (biology) * Type locality (geology) See also * Local (disambiguation) * Locality (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...

but it is thought to be the East Indies. In 1876 Pieter Bleeker classified this species within the monotypic genus ''Cottapistus'' and it remains the only species in that genus. This genus is included in the subfamily Tetraroginae in 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 other authorities place that subfamily within the stonefish family

Synanceiidae Synanceiinae is a subfamily of venomous ray-finned fishes, waspfishes, which is classified as part of the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes and their relatives. These fishes are found in the Indo-Pacific oceans. They are primarily marin ...

, while other authorities classify this subfamily as a family in its own right. The genus name combines the

sculpin A sculpin is a type of fish that belongs to the superfamily Cottoidea in the order Scorpaeniformes.Kane, E. A. and T. E. Higham. (2012)Life in the flow lane: differences in pectoral fin morphology suggest transitions in station-holding demand a ...

genus '' Cottus'' with the genus '' Apistus'', which this species had been placed in, 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 ...

, ''cottoides'', also refers to the sculpin-like appearance of this species.

Description

The marbled spinfish has an oblong and strongly compressed body which has a depth of between one third and four fifths of its

standard 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 m ...

. The front part of the body has no scales above the operculum. The space between the eyes is broad and the caudal fin is rounded. The origin of the dorsal fin is clearly in front of the rear margin of the orbit and it is continuous with, between 14 and 16 spines while the

pelvic fin Pelvic fins or ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral surface of fish. The paired pelvic fins are homologous to the hindlimbs of tetrapods. Structure and function Structure In actinopterygians, the pelvic fin consists of two en ...

s have a single spine and five soft rays. They are usually brownish on the upper body and whitish below, with a large number of dark spots on the head, body and fins, although the pelvic fin has no spots. The maximum standard length reached by theis species is .

Distribution and habitat

The marbled stingfish is found in the western Pacific Ocean from China south to Australia where it extends south to

Bowen Bowen may refer to: Places Australia * Bowen, Queensland, a town * Bowen Hills, Queensland, a suburb ** Bowen Hills railway station, a railway station in Bowen Hills ** Bowen Park, Brisbane, a park in Bowen Hills * Bowen Bridge, crossing the Derw ...

in Queensland, however, it has only been recorded from Jolo in the Philippines. This species is found over soft bottoms at depths between .

Bycatch

The marbled stingfish is taken as bycatch in some shrimp trawl fisheries and fishermen have to take great care in removing them from nets because of the highly venomous spines.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q958912, from2=Q2801712 Tetraroginae Taxa named by Pieter Bleeker Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Marine fish genera