''Lates'' 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 freshwater and

euryhaline Euryhaline organisms are able to adapt to a wide range of salinities. An example of a euryhaline fish is the molly (''Poecilia sphenops'') which can live in fresh water, brackish water, or salt water. The green crab (''Carcinus maenas'') is an e ...

lates perches belonging to the family

Latidae The Latidae, known as the lates perches, are a family of perch-like fish found in Africa, Asia, and the Indian and western Pacific Oceans. Including about 13 species, the family, previously classified subfamily Latinae in family Centropomidae, w ...

. The

generic Generic or generics may refer to: In business * Generic term, a common name used for a range or class of similar things not protected by trademark * Generic brand, a brand for a product that does not have an associated brand or trademark, other ...

name is also used as a common name, lates, for many of the species. All species are predatory, and the

Nile perch The Nile perch (''Lates niloticus''), also known as the African snook, Goliath perch, African barramundi , Goliath barramundi, Giant lates or the Victoria perch, is a species of freshwater fish in family Latidae of order Perciformes. It is wi ...

(''L. niloticus''), in particular, has become infamous as an

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

introduced into the East African Lake Victoria, where many native

Haplochromines __NOTOC__ The haplochromine cichlids are a tribe of cichlids in subfamily Pseudocrenilabrinae called Haplochromini. This group includes the type genus (''Haplochromis'') plus a number of closely related genera such as '' Aulonocara'', '' Astat ...

were driven

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

. In contrast to the widespread Barramundi and Nile perch (though the fish does face threats from human activity), several members of the genus ''Lates'' with relatively restricted African or Asian distributions are themselves considered

threatened Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensa ...

Etymology

The generic name ''Lates'' derives from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''latēre'' (to be hidden).

Description

These fishes range in size from less than in maximum overall length, the largest species reaching weights up to . They all have the characteristic centropomid shape, with the two-part

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 general percoid form. All species are

carnivorous A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other sof ...

, preying on aquatic

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s and other fish in a wide variety of habitats.

Distribution and habitat

These fishes are native to freshwater and marine waters of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

, 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 ...

. Several species are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the

Rift Valley lakes The Rift Valley lakes are a series of lakes in the East African Rift valley that runs through eastern Africa from Ethiopia in the north to Malawi in the south, and includes the African Great Lakes in the south. These include some of the world's ...

in Africa.

Species

Currently, 11 recognized species are placed in this genus: * ''

Lates angustifrons The Tanganyika lates (''Lates angustifrons'')is a species of lates perch endemic to Lake Tanganyika. It is a widespread predator on other fishes. This species can reach a length of SL and the greatest recorded weight is . This species is impo ...

'' Boulenger, 1906 (Tanganyika lates) * ''

Lates calcarifer The barramundi (''Lates calcarifer'') or Asian sea bass, is a species of catadromous fish in the family Latidae of the order Perciformes. The species is widely distributed in the Indo-West Pacific, spanning the waters of the Middle East, Sout ...

'' ( Bloch, 1790) (barramundi) * ''

Lates japonicus The Japanese lates (''Lates japonicus''), also known as the ''akame'' (from the Japanese , literally "red eye") or Japanese barramundi, is a species of fish found in Japan. A bottom-dweller restricted to estuarine habitats and large rivers in the ...

'' Katayama & Y. Taki, 1984 (Japanese lates) (Japanese barramundi) * '' Lates lakdiva'' Pethiyagoda & A. C. Gill, 2012 * ''

Lates longispinis ''Lates longispinis'', also known as the Rudolf lates or Turkana perch, is a species of latid fish that is endemic to Lake Turkana (formerly known as Lake Rudolf) in Kenya and Ethiopia. It grows to in length. ''Lates longispinis'' is important ...

Worthington Worthington may refer to: People * Worthington (surname) * Worthington family, a British noble family Businesses * Worthington Brewery, also known as Worthington's * Worthington Corporation, founded as a pump manufacturer in 1845, later a dive ...

, 1932 (Rudolf lates) * '' Lates macrophthalmus'' Worthington, 1929 (Albert lates) * '' Lates mariae'' Steindachner, 1909 (bigeye lates) * '' Lates microlepis'' Boulenger, 1898 (forktail lates) * '' Lates niloticus'' (

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 ...

, 1758) (Nile perch) * '' Lates stappersii'' (Boulenger, 1914) (sleek lates) * '' Lates uwisara'' Pethiyagoda & A. C. Gill, 2012 Latidae - Lates gibbus

Extinct species

Extinct species within this genus include: Fossilworks
/ref>

* ''Lates gibbus'' Agassiz 1833 * ''Lates gracilis'' Agassiz 1833 * ''Lates macrurus'' Agassiz 1833 * ''Lates noteus'' Agassiz 1833 * ''Lates qatraniensis'' Murray and Attia 2004 Extinct species within this genus lived from the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...

epoch to recent, beginning around 37.2 million years ago. Fossils have been found in Africa (Libya, Egypt, Kenya, Tunisia, Chad, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niger, and Sudan), Saudi Arabia, and Slovakia.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q787185 Latidae Taxa named by Georges Cuvier Eocene fish Extant Eocene first appearances