The longfin gurnard (''Chelidonichthys obscurus''), the long-finned gurnard or shining gurnard, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

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 ...

belonging to 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 ...

Triglidae Triglidae, commonly known as gurnards or sea robins, are a family of bottom-feeding scorpaeniform ray-finned fish. The gurnards are distributed in temperate and tropical seas worldwide. Taxonomy Triglidae was first described as a family in 181 ...

, the gurnards and sea robins. This fish is found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, including the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

and the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

. This species is of commercial importance as a food fish.

Taxonomy

The longfin gurnard was first formally described in 1798 as ''Trigla obscura'' by the German

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

, naturalist and

taxonomist In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are given ...

Johann Julius Walbaum Johann Julius Walbaum (30 June 1724 – 21 August 1799) was a German physician, naturalist and fauna taxonomist. Works As an ichthyologist, he was the first to describe many previously unknown fish species from remote parts of the globe, such ...

with the type locality given as the Mediterranean Sea. Within the

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 ...

Chelidonichthys ''Chelidonichthys'', the smallscaled gurnards, is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Triglidae, the gurnards and sea robins. These gurnards are found in the Eastern Atlantic, Indian and Western Pacific Oceans. Taxonomy ' ...

'' the longfin gurnard is classified within 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 ...

''Aspitrigla''. 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 ...

''obscura'' means “dark”, “dim” or “indistinct”, Walbaum did not explain this but it may refer to this species plain colour pattern in comparison to the

streaked gurnard The streaked gurnard (''Chelidonichthys lastoviza''), also known as the African gurnard or rock gurnard, is a species of ray-finned fish belonging to the family Triglidae, the gurnards and sea robins. This fish is found in the eastern Atlantic Oc ...

(''C. lastoviza'').

Description

The longfin gurnard has a large head which is armoured by large bony plates characterised by many ridges and spines, with no occipital groove. There are two separate

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 ...

s, the first contains 10 or 11 spines while the second has between 17 and 19 soft rays and 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 ...

has 17 or 18 soft rays. The first dorsal fin spine is elongated and there are three

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 ...

rays which are separate from the fin. The scales on the lateral line are plate like. The upper body is reddish pink, the flanks are iridescent and the lower body is pale. The pectoral fins are dark blue and the other fins are yellowish. The maximum published

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 this species is .

Distribution and habitat

The Longfin gurnard is found in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. It is rare off southern England, and Ireland The range extends from there south to Mauritania, including the Canary Islands, the Azores and Madeira. It is found in most of the Mediterranean, but is very rare off Turkey and absent from the Far East of that sea. It does not occur in the

. It is a demersal, benthic fish found on the continental shelf living on soft substrata and among fallen rocks. It is found at depths between .

Biology

The longfin gurnard feeds mainly on benthic invertebrates, especially

mysids Mysida is an order of small, shrimp-like crustaceans in the malacostracan superorder Peracarida. Their common name opossum shrimps stems from the presence of a brood pouch or "marsupium" in females. The fact that the larvae are reared in this ...

. Its eggs and larvae are planktonic.

Fisheries

The longfin gurnard is not commercially exploited in its Atlantic range, although, it may be caught and eaten as bycatch. However, in the Mediterranean, it is of minor commercial interest. Red gurnards are regularly present in fish markets in Spain, Morocco, Italy, Cyprus and Egypt, and sometimes in France, Greece and Turkey, although it is rarely marketed in Tunisia. The catch is sold fresh, chilled and frozen.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2010178 longfin gurnard Fish of the East Atlantic Fish of the Mediterranean Sea Marine fauna of North Africa longfin gurnard Taxa named by Johann Julius Walbaum