''Toxotes kimberleyensis'' is a species of

archerfish The archerfish (spinner fish or archer fish) form a monotypic family, Toxotidae, of fish known for their habit of preying on land-based insects and other small animals by shooting them down with water droplets from their specialized mouths. The ...

found in the Kimberley region of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

.''Toxotes kimberleyensis''
at www.fishbase.org. It was first named by

Gerald R. Allen Gerald Robert "Gerry" Allen (born March 26, 1942 in Los Angeles, California) is an American-born Australian ichthyologist. His career began in 1963, when he spent a semester at the University of Hawaii, where he also received a PhD in marine zo ...

in 2004, and is commonly known as the Kimberley archerfish, largescale archerfish, or western archerfish.Common names for ''Toxotes kimberleyensis''
at www.fishbase.org.

Taxonomy

Archerfish are distributed throughout the waters of Australia and Indonesia, including a population in western Australia historically identified as ''

Toxotes oligolepis The big scale archerfish (''Toxotes oligolepis'') is a species of fish in the family Toxotidae. It is endemic to the Molucca Islands (Indonesia) and possibly the Philippines. Almost nothing is known about this species and there is only a single c ...

''. In 1978, in his ''Review of the Archerfishes'',

suggested that "there is a possibility that his populationmay represent a distinct species". A direct comparison with the type material of ''T. oligolepis'' in 2001 revealed the Kimberley specimens differed in several ways, including having a deeper body and shorter

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 ...

spines. The specific name ''kimberleyensis'' refers to the Kimberley region of western Australia, where the species is localized.

Description

''T. kimberleyensis'' can be identified from its fins, with five spines and 11–13

soft ray Fish anatomy is the study of the form or morphology of fish. It can be contrasted with fish physiology, which is the study of how the component parts of fish function together in the living fish. In practice, fish anatomy and fish physiology co ...

s on the

, three spines and 14–16 rays on the

anal 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 se ...

, and 12–13 pectoral rays. There are between 28 and 33 scales on the

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelial ...

, which is nearly unbroken except at the

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 ...

. 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 are short. There are six to seven

gill raker Gill rakers in fish are bony or cartilaginous processes that project from the branchial arch (gill arch) and are involved with suspension feeding tiny prey. They are not to be confused with the gill filaments that compose the fleshy part of the ...

s on the lower limb of the

first branchial arch The pharyngeal arches, also known as visceral arches'','' are structures seen in the embryonic development of vertebrates that are recognisable precursors for many structures. In fish, the arches are known as the branchial arches, or gill arch ...

. ''T. kimberleyensis'' can reach up to about in length, has a large mouth opening at an angle and fine villiform teeth. The head and body are smooth with very fine scales, but the scales are toothed as is common for perciform fish. ''T. kimberleyensis'' is silvery or silvery-white in color, with black side markings. The sides of the body are marked with four to five black bars which may be wedge-shaped or rounded. In young specimens, the fins are translucent or transparent, but adults have grey or black fins.

Differences from ''T. oligolepis''

''Toxotes oligolepis'' and ''Toxotes kimberleyensis'' have a similar colour pattern.Dianne J. Bray, 2011
Kimberley Archerfish, Toxotes kimberleyensis
in Fishes of Australia, accessed 18 May 2016. Nonetheless, ''T. kimberleyensis'' differs from ''T. oligolepis'' in several notable respects. The

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wiktionary:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to a ...

of ''T. oligolepis'' was thought to have been collected near

Buru Buru (formerly spelled Boeroe, Boro, or Bouru) is the third largest island within the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. It lies between the Banda Sea to the south and Seram Sea to the north, west of Ambon and Seram islands. The island belongs to Ma ...

. ''T. oligolepis'' has longer dorsal spines overall than those observed in the Kimberley region population. The third dorsal spine of ''T. oligolepis'' is distinctive and extends higher than the rest of the soft dorsal fin, whereas the fourth and fifth spines of ''T. kimberleyensis'' are longest. However, the spines of ''T. kimberleyensis'' do not extend beyond the height of the soft portion of the dorsal fin. ''T. oligolepis'' also has around 25 scales on its lateral line, compared to 30–31 typically (and up to 33) for ''T. kimberleyensis''.

Distribution and habitat

''Toxotes kimberleyensis'' is restricted to inland fresh water habitats such as rivers. The known range of ''T. kimberleyensis'' is limited to the western Kimberley district of Australia, based on surveys conducted over three decades. It is common in the Fitzroy River, but has also been observed in the Isdell River, the

Meda River The Meda River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The river is formed when the Lennard River splits into two channels just north of Mount Marmion, the other channel being the May River. Continuing to flow westward the ri ...

, and the

May River The May River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The river is formed when the Lennard River splits into two channels north of Mount Marmion and near the Kimberley Downs Station homestead, the other channel being the Me ...

, where it is nonetheless rarer. Its relatives, the

seven-spot archerfish ''Toxotes chatareus'', sometimes known by the common names common archerfish, seven-spot archerfish or largescale archerfish, is a species of perciform fish in the archerfish genus ''Toxotes''.Martin F. Gomon & Dianne J. Bray (2011Sevenspot Arc ...

(''T. chatareus'') and the

banded archerfish The banded archerfish (''Toxotes jaculatrix'') is a brackish water perciform fish of the archerfish genus ''Archerfish, Toxotes''. It is silvery in colour and has a dorsal fin towards the posterior end. It has distinctive, semi-triangular markin ...

(''T. jaculatrix'') can be found on the coast in

brackish water Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estua ...

or even

saltwater Saline water (more commonly known as salt water) is water that contains a high concentration of dissolved salts (mainly sodium chloride). On the United States Geological Survey (USGS) salinity scale, saline water is saltier than brackish water, ...

, but ''T. kimberleyensis'' only inhabits freshwater environments. However, ''T. kimberleyensis'' can be found as much as upstream in the Fitzroy River and has been observed as far upstream as the

Geikie Gorge National Park Danggu (Geikie) Gorge National Park is a national park in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, (great-circle distance) northeast of Perth and approximately east of Broome by road. The gorge was originally named in honour of Sir Archibald ...

. ''T. kimberleyensis'' prefers deep freshwater pools but swims near the surface and near the shore. Like all archerfish, it feeds by shooting a jet of water from its mouth, knocking insects on overhanging vegetation near the shore into the water.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6429927 Archerfish Freshwater fish of Western Australia Fish described in 2004