''Hozukius'' 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

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 ...

Sebastinae Sebastinae is a subfamily of marine fish belonging to the family Scorpaenidae in the order Scorpaeniformes. Their common names include rockfishes, rock perches, ocean perches, sea perches, thornyheads, scorpionfishes, sea ruffes and rockcods. De ...

within 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 ...

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 ...

. They are native to the northwestern

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 ...

Taxonomy

''Hozukius'' was described as a monotypic genus in 1934 by the Japanese

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 ...

Kiyomatsu Matsubara was a Japanese marine biologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. Born Kiyomatsu Sakamoto in Hyogo Prefecture, Kiyomatsu Matsubara was the first professor of the Department of Fisheries of the University of Kyoto and is considered to be the fou ...

with ''Helicolenus emblemarius'' which had been described by David Starr Jordan and Edith Chapin Starks in 1904 with its type locality given as Okinose, near Misaki in Japan its only species. A second species, ''H. guyotensis'', was described in 1975. The genus name is probably derived from ''hozuki'', the Japanese name for the flowering plant ''

Physalis alkekengi ''Alkekengi officinarum'', the bladder cherry, Chinese lantern, Japanese-lantern, strawberry groundcherry, or winter cherry, is a species of flowering plant in the nightshade family Solanaceae. It is a close relative of the new world ''Calliphys ...

'', which has bright red or orange fruit and is a traditional component of Japanese

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

culture, its bright-red colour being similar to that of ''H. emblemarius''.

Species

There are currently two recognised species in this genus: * ''

Hozukius emblemarius ''Hozukius'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the subfamily Sebastinae within the family Scorpaenidae. They are native to the northwestern Pacific Ocean. Taxonomy ''Hozukius'' was described as a monotypic genus in 1934 by the ...

'' ( D. S. Jordan & Starks, 1904) * ''

Hozukius guyotensis ''Hozukius'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the subfamily Sebastinae within the family Scorpaenidae. They are native to the northwestern Pacific Ocean. Taxonomy ''Hozukius'' was described as a monotypic genus in 1934 by the ...

'' Barsukov & Fedorov, 1975

Characeristics

''Hozukius'' rockfishes have maximum standard lengths of . They have 12 spines 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 conv ...

and 26

vertebrae The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic i ...

, they have a

swim bladder The swim bladder, gas bladder, fish maw, or air bladder is an internal gas-filled Organ (anatomy), organ that contributes to the ability of many bony fish (but not cartilaginous fish) to control their buoyancy, and thus to stay at their curren ...

and the intraorbital bone is firmly connected to the upper margin of the preoperculum. They also have a deep body, three spines on lower margin of the eye and a truncate caudal fin.

Distribution and habitat

Hozukius fishes are only found in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. ''H. emblemarius'' around Japan and ''H. guyotensis'' on the

Emperor Seamount An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (empr ...

s. They are bathydemersal and

demersal fish Demersal fish, also known as groundfish, live and feed on or near the bottom of seas or lakes (the demersal zone).Walrond Carl . "Coastal fish - Fish of the open sea floor"Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 2 March 2009 They occ ...

which are found as deep as . There is one record of ''H. emblemaris'' from Korean waters of the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...

. Both species are described as being rare.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1046754 Sebastini Marine fish genera Taxa named by Kiyomatsu Matsubara