''Diagramma'' 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 ...

Haemulidae Haemulidae is a family of fishes in the order Perciformes known commonly as grunts. It is made up of the two subfamilies Haemulinae (grunters) and Plectorhynchinae (sweetlips), which in turn contain about 133 species in 19 genera. These fish ar ...

, grunts native to the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

and the western

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 ...

. The currently recognized species in this genus are: * ''

Diagramma centurio The sailfin rubberlip (''Diagramma centurio'') is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a sweetlips belonging to the family Haemulidae. It is found in the western Indian Ocean. Description The sailfin rubberlip has adults and subadults which are o ...

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 ...

, 1830 (sailfin rubberlip) * ''

Diagramma labiosum ''Diagramma centurio'', the painted sweetlips, Australian slatey, greysweetlips, painted blubber-lips or yellowdot sweetlips, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a sweetlips belonging to the family Haemulidae. It is found in the Indo-Pacific ...

'' W. J. Macleay, 1883 * ''

Diagramma melanacrum The blackfin slatey (''Diagramma melanacrum''), also known as blackfoot sweetlips, blackfin sweetlips or blacktip sweetlips, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a sweetlips belonging to the family Haemulidae. It is found in the eastern India ...

'' J. W. Johnson & J. E. Randall, 2001 (blackfin slatey) * ''

Diagramma pictum The painted sweetlips (''Diagramma pictum''), also known as the Australian slatey, blackall, bluey, grey sweetlips, moke, morwong, mother-in-law fish, painted blubber-lips, slate bream, slate sweetlips, smokey bream, thicklip or yellowdot sweetlip ...

'' ( Thunberg, 1792) (painted sweetlips) * ''

Diagramma punctatum ''Diagramma punctatum'' is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a sweetlips belonging to the family Haemulidae. This species attains a maximum total length of . It is found in the western Indian Ocean, including the Red Sea and Socotra. This spec ...

'' G. Cuvier, 1830

Systematics

''Diagramma'' was originally used as a tautological name for ''Anthias diagramma'' in 1792 by

Marcus Elieser Bloch Marcus Elieser Bloch (1723–1799) was a German physician and naturalist who is best known for his contribution to ichthyology through his multi-volume catalog of plates illustrating the fishes of the world. Brought up in a Hebrew-speaking Jewish ...

in error for

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

’s ''Perca diagramma'', Lorenz Oken used Bloch’s taxon as 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 ...

of the new genus ''Diagramma'' in 1917. This is 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

Carl Peter Thunberg Carl Peter Thunberg, also known as Karl Peter von Thunberg, Carl Pehr Thunberg, or Carl Per Thunberg (11 November 1743 – 8 August 1828), was a Swedish naturalist and an "apostle" of Carl Linnaeus. After studying under Linnaeus at Uppsala Un ...

’s ''Perca picta'' of 1792. Linnaeus did not explain why he used ''diagramma'' but it may mean “marked with lines”. Some authorities treat ''Diagramma'' as a synonym of ''

Plectorhinchus ''Plectorhinchus'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fish, sweetlips belonging to the subfamily Plectorhinchinae which is one of two subfamilies in the family Haemulidae which also includes the grunts. The species in this genus are found in fresh ...

'', while others place ''D. centurio'' in ''Plectorhinchus'' although they maintain the other four ''Diagramma'' species in a separate genus.

References

Plectorhinchinae {{Perciformes-stub