The spottedtail morwong (''Cheilodactylus (Goniistius) zonatus'') is a species of marine
ray-finned fish, traditionally regarded as belonging to the
family 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 northwest Pacific Ocean.
Taxonomy
The spottedtail morwong was first formally
described in 1830 by the
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
zoologist Georges Cuvier
Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier ...
as a new name for ''Labrus japonicus'' of
Tilesius
Wilhelm Gottlieb Tilesius von Tilenau (17 July 1769 – 17 May 1857) was a German naturalist and explorer, physician, draftsman and engraver. He was a member of the Order of St. Vladimir and of the Legion of Honour.
Early life and educati ...
, Cuvier referred to “''Les Cheilodactyls''” rather the referring to the genus ''Cheilodactylus''.
When
Theodore Nicholas Gill described the
subgenus
In biology, a subgenus (plural: subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus.
In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between t ...
''
Goniistius
''Goniistius'' is a subgenus of marine ray-finned fishes, traditionally classified as being within the genus ''Cheilodactylus'' and belonging to the family Cheilodactylidae, known as morwongs, although this name is not unique to this family and t ...
'' he designated ''Cheilodactylus zonatus'' as its
type species.
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 ...
''zonatus'' means “banded”, a reference to the banded pattern on this fish's body.
and
morphological analyses have strongly suggested that the genus ''Cheilodactylus'' was
paraphyletic
In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...
and that only two species, ''C. fasciatus'' and ''C. pixi'', both from Southern Africa could be included in a
monophyletic
In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...
genus ''Cheilodactylus''. Further, these analyses also found that other than these two species the rest of the taxa traditionally classified in the family are actually closer to the
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 ...
and should be classified in that family.
Description
The spottedtail morwong attains a maximum total length of .
The overall colour of the body and head is white marked with by several diagonal reddish orange bands, the
caudal fin has white spots.
Distribution and habitat
The spottedtail morwong is found in the northwestern Pacific Ocean from Japan and Korea south to southern China, Taiwan and northern Vietnam.
[ It lives on rocky reef faces and slopes and is typically recorded from depths of .][
]
Biology
The spottedtail morwong feeds on benthic
The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "t ...
invertebrates that it filters from the substrate.[ They have been observed feeding in benthic mats of diatoms, taking mouthfuls of diatoms and using the gill rakers to filter out any animals among the algae.]
Utilisation
The spottedtail morwong is used In mariculture
Mariculture or marine farming is a specialized branch of aquaculture (which includes freshwater aquaculture) involving the cultivation of marine organisms for food and other animal products, in enclosed sections of the open ocean ( offshore mari ...
in Japan.[
]
References
{{taxonbar, from= Q5717053
Fish described in 1830
Cheilodactylus
Latridae
Taxa named by Georges Cuvier