''Pseudanthias huchtii'', the red cheek fairy basslet, threadfin anthias or Pacific basslet is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a member of the genus '' Pseudanthias'' which is part of the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

Anthiinae Anthias are members of the family Serranidae and make up the subfamily Anthiinae. Anthias make up a sizeable portion of the population of pink, orange, and yellow reef fishes seen swarming in most coral reef photography and film. The name Anthi ...

, which in turn is part of the family Serranidae, the groupers and sea basses. It comes from the Western Central Pacific Ocean. It occasionally makes its way into the aquarium trade. It grows to a size of 12 cm in length.

Description

''Pseudanthis huchti'' is a very distinctively colour member of the genus ''Pseudanthias'', as well as having the third dorsal fin spine and elongated caudal fin lobes. The males possess an obvious orange stripe which runs from their eye to the centre of their pectoral fin and a broad maroon band on the forward margin of 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 ...

. The females and juveniles are greenish-yellow in colour. There are 10 spines in the dorsal fin and 17 soft rays while 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 ...

contains 3 spines and 7 soft rays. The maximum recorded total length for a male is and for a female it is half that.

Distribution

''Pseudanthias huchtii'' is found in the Western Pacific Ocean from the Maluku Islands and the Philippines east to Vanuatu, south as far the Great Barrier Reef in the Tasman Sea, as well as the Scott Reef and the Ashmore Reefs in the Timor Sea their distribution extends as far east as Palau in Micronesia.

Habitat and ecology

''Pseudanthias huchtii'' is found in aggregations at drop offs around the outer crests of coral reefs. Like all species of ''Pseudanthias'' they are nonandric protogynous hermaphrodites in which all the fish are born female and the largest and most dominant females will change sex to become males. The males are

territorial A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

and guard a harem of females. They will interact with ''

Pseudanthias squamipinnis The sea goldie (''Pseudanthias squamipinnis''), also known as the orange basslet, lyretail coralfish, onestripe goldie, lyretail anthias,Lieske, E. and Myers, R.F. (2004) ''Coral reef guide; Red Sea'' London, HarperCollins lyretail fairy basslet, ...

''.

Taxonomy

''Pseudanthias huchti'' was first formally described in 1857 as ''Anthias huchti'' by the Dutch

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octobe ...

and herpetologist Pieter Bleeker (1819–1874) with the

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Ty ...

locality given as

Ambon Island Ambon Island is part of the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. The island has an area of and is mountainous, well watered, and fertile. Ambon Island consists of two territories: the city of Ambon, Maluku, Ambon to the south and various districts ('' ...

. Bleeker named this species in honour of Mr. G.J.L. van den Hucht of

Batavia Batavia may refer to: Historical places * Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands * Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...

, who owned a fine collection of Moluccan fishes, and who gave specimens to Bleeker. Some authorities place this species in 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 ...

''Franzia''.

Utlisation

This is an aggressive species and infrequently appears in the

aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...

trade.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q3233570 huchtii Taxa named by Pieter Bleeker Fish described in 1857