''Semicossyphus darwini'' is a species of

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 ...

native to the tropical eastern

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. Common names include the Chilean sheepshead wrasse, the goldspot sheepshead or the Galapagos sheepshead wrasse.

Description

This is a large wrasse, with a maximum length of . The dorsal fin has twelve spines and ten soft rays while the anal fin has three spines and twelve soft rays.

Distribution and habitat

''S. darwini'' is native to the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean. Its range includes the

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands (Spanish: , , ) are an archipelago of volcanic islands. They are distributed on each side of the equator in the Pacific Ocean, surrounding the centre of the Western Hemisphere, and are part of the Republic of Ecuador ...

and on the coast of South America, extends from Ecuador southward through Peru to northern Chile. It is normally found among

seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of '' Rhodophyta'' (red), ''Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...

, including deep-water

kelp forest Kelp forests are underwater areas with a high density of kelp, which covers a large part of the world's coastlines. Smaller areas of anchored kelp are called kelp beds. They are recognized as one of the most productive and dynamic ecosystems on Ea ...

s, and its depth range is from .

Ecology

The strong sharp teeth provide evidence of its diet as a

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "t ...

predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...

, and this is confirmed by the stomach contents which include fragments of shells and other coarse calcareous debris as well as

detritus In biology, detritus () is dead particulate organic material, as distinguished from dissolved organic material. Detritus typically includes the bodies or fragments of bodies of dead organisms, and fecal material. Detritus typically hosts commun ...

. Other large carnivorous fish dwelling in the kelp forest include the Peruvian morwong (''Cheilodactylus variegatus''), the Chilean sandperch ''

Pinguipes chilensis ''Pinguipes chilensis'', commonly known as the Chilean sandperch, is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Pinguipedidae. It is found in the southeastern Pacific Ocean off the coasts of Peru and Chile. Description ''P. chilensis'' can grow ...

'', the sea chub ''

Graus nigra ''Graus nigra'' is a species of sea chub endemic to the Pacific coast of South America, ranging from Valdivia in Chile to southern Peru. This species grows to a total length of . It is popular as a game fish. This species is the only known memb ...

'', and the Cape redfish (''Sebastes capensis''). These fish are preyed on by the

marine otter The marine otter (''Lontra felina'') is a rare and relatively unknown South American mammal of the weasel family (Mustelidae). The scientific name means "otter cat", and in Spanish, the marine otter is also often referred to as : "marine cat". ...

(''Lontra felina'') and the

South American sea lion The South American sea lion (''Otaria flavescens'', formerly ''Otaria byronia''), also called the southern sea lion and the Patagonian sea lion, is a sea lion found on the western and southeastern coasts of South America. It is the only member ...

(''Otaria flavescens'').

Status

''S. darwini'' is caught for food throughout its range and is fished commercially in the Galápagos Islands. It is a large, and probably a slow-growing, fish which makes it vulnerable to over exploitation. There was a decline of 80% in the Galapagos populations during the 1997–1998

El Niño El Niño (; ; ) is the warm phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and is associated with a band of warm ocean water that develops in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific (approximately between the International Date L ...

event, but the fish stock recovered in the following year, making it likely that the fish had moved to deeper water during the adverse conditions. The

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

considers that there is not enough evidence to assess the conservation status of this fish and has rated it as "

data deficient A data deficient (DD) species is one which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as offering insufficient information for a proper assessment of conservation status to be made. This does not necessaril ...

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q2512341 Semicossyphus Fish of the Pacific Ocean Fish of Chile Fish described in 1842 Taxa named by Leonard Jenyns