''Kurtus'' is a

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 ...

of percomorph

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

es, called the nurseryfishes, forehead brooders, or incubator fish, native to fresh,

brackish 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 estu ...

and coastal marine waters ranging from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, through southeast Asia to

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

and northern Australia. ''Kurtus'' is currently the only known genus in the family Kurtidae, one of two families in the order

Kurtiformes The Kurtiformes consist of two extant families of ray-finned fish, the Indo-Pacific Kurtidae (consisting solely of two species in the genus '' Kurtus'') and the much more diverse and widespread Apogonidae (the cardinalfishes). The order is p ...

. They are famous for carrying their egg clusters on hooks protruding from the forehead (

supraoccipital The occipital bone () is a cranial dermal bone and the main bone of the occiput (back and lower part of the skull). It is trapezoidal in shape and curved on itself like a shallow dish. The occipital bone overlies the occipital lobes of the cereb ...

) of the males, although this only has been documented in ''K. gulliveri'' and available evidence strongly suggests this is not done by ''K. indicus'' (where the hook likely also is too small to carry embryos).Berra, Tim (2003). ''Nurseryfish, Kurtus gulliveri (Perciformes: Kurtidae), from northern Australia: redescription, distribution, egg mass, and comparison with K. indicus from southeast Asia.'' Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwaters 14(4): 295-306. Females do not have a hook. Nurseryfish in net

In addition to the egg hook, the kurtid gas bladder is enclosed in a tubular bony structure evolved from the ribs. In both species, the back is elevated into a hump shape. Despite their unusual reproductive habits, little is known about these species. Historically they have proven very difficult to keep alive in aquaria, although recent success with ''K. gulliveri'' has been achieved by

Tokyo Sea Life Park is a public aquarium located in Edogawa Ward, Tokyo. It is located in Kasai Rinkai Park in Edogawa Ward, Tokyo, and Kasai Rinkai Bird Garden is also located in the park. It can be accessed from Kasai-Rinkai Park Station. The Predecessor is the ...

in Japan.

Species

The currently recognized species in this genus are: * '' Kurtus gulliveri'' Castelnau, 1878 (nurseryfish) * ''

Kurtus indicus ''Kurtus indicus'', the Indian humphead, is a species of fish in the family Kurtidae native to fresh, brackish, and marine waters of the coastal regions of southern Asia from India to southeast China and Indonesia. It resembles the closely rela ...

'' Bloch, 1786 (Indian humphead)

References

Kurtidae Ray-finned fish genera {{Kurtiformes-stub