The crisscross prickleback (''Plagiogrammus hopkinsii'') 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 ...

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 h ...

belonging to the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Stichaeidae, the pricklebacks and shannies. It is the only species in the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

genus ''Plagiogrammus''. This fish is found in the eastern Pacific Ocean off California.

Taxonomy

The crisscross prickleback was first formally described in 1894 by the American ichthyologist

Tarleton Hoffman Bean Tarleton Hoffman Bean (October 8, 1846 – December 28, 1916) was an American ichthyologist. Biography and education Tarleton Hoffman Bean was born to George Bean and Mary Smith Bean in Bainbridge, Pennsylvania, on October 8, 1846. He attended ...

with its type locality given as Monterey, California. Bean placed his new species in a new monotypic genus, ''Plagiogrammus''. This taxon is classified within the subfamily Stichaeinae of the Zoarcoid family Stichaeidae.

Etymology

The crisscross pickleback's generic name, is a compound of ''plagio'', meaning "slanting", and ''grammus'', meaning line. Bean did not explain what this alluded to but it may refer to the upper lateral line “curves very slightly” over 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 specific name honors Timothy Hopkins, who founded the Seaside Laboratory at Pacific Grove on

Monterey Bay Monterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean located on the coast of the U.S. state of California, south of the San Francisco Bay Area and its major city at the south of the bay, San Jose. San Francisco itself is further north along the coast, by ...

, in recognition of his “services in behalf of science”.

Description

The crisscross prickleback is distinguished from other taxa in the subfamily Stichaeinae by the upper lateral line, having many upward directed branches consisting of many small tubes, being joined to the middle lateral canal at each end. The middle lateral canal starts above the fifth to the eighth spines in the anal fin. It has less than 41

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 c ...

spines and there are 12 precaudal vertebrae. 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 ...

is .

Distribution and habitat

The crisscross prickleback is found in the eastern Pacific Ocean where it is

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 else ...

to California, being found from Pacific Grove south as far as San Nicholas Island. It can be found from the intertidal zone down to in rocky areas.

Biology

The crisscross prickleback's diet is made up largely of invertebrates, mainly

mysid 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 ...

s, amphipods, and shrimps, as well as

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2687594, from2=Q2703804 Stichaeinae Fish described in 1836 Taxa named by Tarleton Hoffman Bean