''Rhinopias xenops'', the strange-eyed scorpionfish, is a species 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 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 ...

Scorpaenidae The Scorpaenidae (also known as scorpionfish) are a family of mostly marine fish that includes many of the world's most venomous species. As their name suggests, scorpionfish have a type of "sting" in the form of sharp spines coated with venom ...

, the scorpionfishes. This species is found in the Pacific Ocean.

Taxonomy

''Rhinopias xenops'' was first formally described as ''Peloropsis xenops'' in 1905 by the American

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 ...

Charles Henry Gilbert Charles Henry Gilbert (December 5, 1859 in Rockford, Illinois – April 20, 1928 in Palo Alto, California) was a pioneer ichthyologist and Fisheries science, fishery biologist of particular significance to natural history of the western Unit ...

with the type locality given as the Avau Channel, the channel separating the islands of

Maui The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...

and

Lanai Lanai ( haw, Lānai, , , also ,) is the sixth-largest of the Hawaiian Islands and the smallest publicly accessible inhabited island in the chain. It is colloquially known as the Pineapple Island because of its past as an island-wide pineapple pl ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. ''Peloropsis'' was also a new

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 ...

and ''P. xenops'' was its only species. However, in 1973

William N. Eschmeyer William Neil Eschmeyer, also known as Bill Eschmeyer, is an American ichthyologist. He is the founder and developer of the database and reference work Catalog of Fishes, hosted by the California Academy of Sciences and available both on-line and i ...

, Yoshitsugu Hirosake and Tokiharu Abe moved this species into the genus ''

Rhinopias ''Rhinopias'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. The species in this genus are found in the Indian and Pacific oceans. Taxonomy ''Rhinopias''was described as a genus in 1905 by the Ame ...

'', making ''Peloropsis'' a

junior synonym The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linna ...

of that taxon. 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 ...

''xenops'' is a compound of ''xeno'' meaning “different” and ''ops'' meaning “eye”, an allusion to the raised upper orbits of the eyes sticking above the dorsal profile of the head.

Description

''Rhinopias xenops'' has 12 spines and 9 soft rays in the

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 ...

with 3 spines and 5 soft rays in 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 ...

. The lacrimal bone has 2 rounded lobes over the maxillary and there are 3 or 4 spines on the suborbital ridge but these are weak and may be divided. The first spine on the lateral facet of the lacrimal bone. It has a compressed head and body with a long snout ending in a raised rostrum. The overall colour is reddish with small purplish speckling on the upper head and body with a large white marking near the base of the spiny part of the dorsal fin. There are more white patches above the lateral line, on the head, pectoral fin and elsewhere n the body.

Distribution and habitat

''Rhinopias xenops'' is found in the Pacific Ocean, it was thought to be endemic to the Hawaiian Archipelago but has since been found off southern Japan. The Japanese specimens are similar to the Hawaiian specimens but there are consistent differences in colouration and patterning, and they may be a different species. This is a rare demersal fish found at depths between on substrates of either rocks or coral.

References

{{Taxonbar, from= Q2418455 xenops Venomous fish Taxa named by Charles Henry Gilbert Fish described in 1905