''Minous monodactylus'', the grey stingfish or grey goblinfish, is a species of marine

ray-finned fishes 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 ...

, it is the only

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

in the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...

Minoini, one of the three tribes which are classified within the subfamily Synanceiinae within the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes and their relatives. This species found in the Indo-Pacific and is venomous to humans.

Taxonomy

''Minous monodactylus'' was first formally described as ''Scorpaena monodactyla'' in 1801 by the German naturalists

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 ...

and

Johann Gottlob Theaenus Schneider Johann Gottlob Theaenus Schneider (18 January 1750 – 12 January 1822) was a German classicist and naturalist. Biography Schneider was born at Collm in Saxony. In 1774, on the recommendation of Christian Gottlob Heine, he became secretary t ...

, the type locality was not given. In 1876

Pieter Bleeker Pieter Bleeker (10 July 1819 – 24 January 1878) was a Dutch medical doctor, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. He was famous for the ''Atlas Ichthyologique des Indes Orientales Néêrlandaises'', his monumental work on the fishes of East Asia ...

designated ''Scorpaena monodactyla'' 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 specime ...

of the

'' Minous'' which had originally been described in 1829 by Georges Cuvier. Cuvier named a species called ''Minous woora'' in 1829, based on "''woorah minoo''", the name reported by Patrick Russell to be used in

Vizagapatam , image_alt = , image_caption = From top, left to right: Visakhapatnam aerial view, Vizag seaport, Simhachalam Temple, Aerial view of Rushikonda Beach, Beach road, Novotel Visakhapatnam, INS Kursura submarine museum, ...

on the

Coromandel Coast The Coromandel Coast is the southeastern coastal region of the Indian subcontinent, bounded by the Utkal Plains to the north, the Bay of Bengal to the east, the Kaveri delta to the south, and the Eastern Ghats to the west, extending over an ...

in India for what turned out to be ''S. monodactyla''. The specific name ''monodactylus'' means "one finger", alluding to the detached lowest

pectoral 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 ...

ray.

Description

''Minous monodactylus'' has between 9 and 11 spines and 10 and 12 soft rays in the

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through c ...

. The anal fin has 2 spines and between 7 and 10 soft rays. It reaches a maximum

total 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 ...

of . the pectoral fins have 12 rays with the lowest ray being clearly detached from the rest, is slightly larger and has fleshy “cap”. The pelvic fin has a single spine and 5 soft rays. All fin rays are simple, i.e. unbranched. There are no scales on the head and body except for those that make up the lateral line. There are teeth in the jaws and there are

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 ...

but no teeth on the

palatine A palatine or palatinus (in Latin; plural ''palatini''; cf. derivative spellings below) is a high-level official attached to imperial or royal courts in Europe since Roman times.

. There are

dermal The dermis or corium is a layer of skin between the epidermis (with which it makes up the cutis) and subcutaneous tissues, that primarily consists of dense irregular connective tissue and cushions the body from stress and strain. It is divided ...

cirrhi on the upper eyeball and lower jaw but the rest of the skin is smooth. This species is variable in colour with the upper body being marked with pale bars and stripes and the lower body being pale. The margin of the dorsal fin is dark and there is a black spot on the front part of the soft rayed portion of the dorsal fin, typically with barring to its rear. The inner parts of the pectoral fin and its axil are pale without markings while the outer part one the anal and pelvic fins are dark. 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 ...

is crossed by two wide, vertical bars.

Distribution and habitat

''Minous monodactylus'' is found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It occurs along the eastern coast of Africa from Somalia south to South Africa and Madagascar but is absent from 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''; ...

and Gulf of Aden. It is found from the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...

east into the Pacific where it is found in Indonesia north to southern Japan. It is absent from Australia but there is a disjunct population in New Caledonia. It is found at depths between in nearshore waters of the continental shelf, including sheltered waters such as bays and lagoons, where it prefers soft substrates.

Biology

''Minous monodactylus'' has a venom gland at the base of their fin spines with an anterolateral glandular groove in the spine which takes the venom to the tip.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5034684 Fish of Thailand Taxa named by Marcus Elieser Bloch Taxa named by Johann Gottlob Theaenus Schneider Fish described in 1801 Synanceiinae