The spiny red gurnard (''Chelidonichthys spinosus'') 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 ...

Triglidae Triglidae, commonly known as gurnards or sea robins, are a family of bottom-feeding scorpaeniform ray-finned fish. The gurnards are distributed in temperate and tropical seas worldwide. Taxonomy Triglidae was first described as a family in 181 ...

, the gurnards and sea robins. This species is found in the northwestern

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 contin ...

where they occur at depths of from . This species grows to a length of TL. This species is of commercial importance as a

food fish Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is ing ...

Taxonomy

The spiny red gurnard was first formally described as ''Trigla spinosus'' in 1844 by the British medical doctor and naturalist John McClelland with the type locality given a "China". Within the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

'' Chelidonichthys'' this species is classified in the nominate subgenus. The specific name ''spinosus'' means "spiny" and alludes to the spine on either side of the nape, the large spine on humeral bone above the pectoral fins, a small spine on the operculum, and the pair of spines on the lower corner of the preoperculum.

Description

The spiny red gurnard has a large triangular shaped head which bears a number of ridges and spines, although it does not have an occipital groove. The diameter of the eyes exceeds the distance between them. Both the soft-rayed

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 ...

and the anal fin contain between 15 and 17 soft rays and the base of both the dorsal fins have small, robustly spined plates, known as bucklers, which result in

ossification Ossification (also called osteogenesis or bone mineralization) in bone remodeling is the process of laying down new bone material by cells named osteoblasts. It is synonymous with bone tissue formation. There are two processes resulting in ...

of the pteridygiophores. There are small scales on the body but the breast lacks scales. The overall colour is olive or brownish, changing to red under stress. The lower part of the pectoral fins has a large number of bluish spots scattered over it. There is some times a black blotch on the inner

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 ...

. This species has attained a 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 ...

of and a maximum published weight of .

Distribution and habitat

The spiny red gurnard is found in the northwestern Pacific Ocean in the

China Sea The China Seas consist of a series of marginal seas in the Western Pacific Ocean, around China. They are the major components signifying the transition from the continent of Asia to the Pacific Ocean.Pinxian Wang, Qianyu Li, Chun-Feng Li, ''Geolo ...

Yellow Sea The Yellow Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula, and can be considered the northwestern part of the East China Sea. It is one of four seas named after common colour ter ...

and in Japan mainly west of Kyushu. occurs in the tropical to warm temperate areas on sandy or sandy mud substrates at depths of .

Fisheries

The spiny red gurnard is regarded as an excellent food fish and is fished for by trawling throughout its range.

Gallery

Boiled fish red gurnard.jpg, ホウボウの煮付け（

Japanese cuisine Japanese cuisine encompasses the regional and traditional foods of Japan, which have developed through centuries of political, economic, and social changes. The traditional cuisine of Japan (Japanese: ) is based on rice with miso soup and oth ...

). Rubio rojo (Chelidonichthys spinosus), Madeira, Portugal, 2019-05-30, DD 18.jpg, Camouflaged in gravel. Helidonichthys_spinosus.jpg, Spiny red gurnards in an aquarium. Rubio rojo (Chelidonichthys spinosus), Parque natural de la Arrábida, Portugal, 2020-07-23, DD 51.jpg, Spiny red gurnard with its characteristic super-enlarged pectoral fins.

References

External links

spiny red gurnard Marine fauna of East Asia spiny red gurnard {{Scorpaeniformes-stub