''Richardsonichthys'', is a monotypic genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to 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 ...

Tetraroginae, the waspfishes, which is

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as part of the family

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 and their relatives. The only species in the genus is the whiteface waspfish (''Richardsonichthys leucogaster''), also known as the whitebelly roguefish, rouge fish, Torres Strait soldier fish or Richardson's waspfish. This species is native to reefs of the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean.

Taxonomy

''Richardsonichthys'' was first described as a genus in 1958 by the South African

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 ...

J. L. B. Smith James Leonard Brierley Smith (26 September 1897 – 8 January 1968) was a South African ichthyologist, organic chemist, and university professor. He was the first to identify a taxidermied fish as a coelacanth, at the time thought to be long ex ...

as a monotypic genus, the only species being ''Apistes leucogaster''. ''A. leucogaster'' had been described in 1848 by the

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naval surgeon,

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and naturalist John Richardson with its type locality given as the “Sea of China”. This taxon is included in the subfamily Tetraroginae within the Scorpaenidae in the 5th edition of ''

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' by the American ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011) is a standard reference for fish systematics. Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of the diversity and classification of the ...

'' however other authorities place that subfamily within the stonefish family

Synanceiidae Synanceiinae is a subfamily of venomous ray-finned fishes, waspfishes, which is classified as part of the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes and their relatives. These fishes are found in the Indo-Pacific oceans. They are primarily marin ...

, while other authorities classify this subfamily as a family in its own right. Smith named the new genus , ''Richardsonichthys'', in honour of Richardson and appended his name with ''ichthys'', which is Greek for “fish”. The specific name, ''leucogaster'', means “white-bellied”, an allusion to the white ventral surface of this species.

Description

''Richardsonichthys leucogaster'' has an oblong body, which does not show strong lateral compression, with a rounded dorsal profile of the head. The body has almost no scales except for thos making up the

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelial ...

. The lachrymal bone has 2 spines and the uppermost spine obn the

preoperculum This glossary of ichthyology is a list of definitions of terms and concepts used in ichthyology, the study of fishes. A B C ...

is highly developed. The dorsal fin has its origin in front of the rear of the orbit. The dorsal fin contains 13 spines, separated by deeply incised membranes, and 8 soft rays. The first dorsal fin spine is over half the length of second spine. 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 3 spines and 6 soft rays. The caudal fin is rounded, lacking elongated outer rays. The colour is very variable but lower body, the pectoral,

pelvic The pelvis (plural pelves or pelvises) is the lower part of the trunk, between the abdomen and the thighs (sometimes also called pelvic region), together with its embedded skeleton (sometimes also called bony pelvis, or pelvic skeleton). The ...

, anal and caudal fins are typically reddish. This species reaches a maximum total length of .

Distribution and habitat

''Richardsonichthys leucogaster'' has an

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

distribution. It is found off Tanzania and Mozambique in eastern Africa and Madagascar, the Seychelles, the east coast of India and from the eastern

Andaman Sea The Andaman Sea (historically also known as the Burma Sea) is a marginal sea of the northeastern Indian Ocean bounded by the coastlines of Myanmar and Thailand along the Gulf of Martaban and west side of the Malay Peninsula, and separated from ...

east into the Western Pacific to

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, south to Australia and north to southern China. It occurs at depths between on sandy substrates or assocaited with corals. It may be associated with seagrass beds in some areas.

Biology

''Richardsonichthys leucogaster'' is nocturnal, burying itself into the and in the daytime and emerging at night to hunt.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from= Q2324487 , from2=Q2189145 Tetraroginae Taxa named by John Richardson (naturalist) Taxa named by J. L. B. Smith Fish described in 1848 Monotypic fish genera Monotypic marine fish genera Monotypic ray-finned fish genera