''Stellifer'' is a

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 ...

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

in the family

Sciaenidae Sciaenidae are a family of fish in the order Acanthuriformes. They are commonly called drums or croakers in reference to the repetitive throbbing or drumming sounds they make. The family consists of about 286 to 298 species in about 66 to 70 gen ...

, the drums and croakers. It is found in

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...

waters.Chao, N. L. (2001)
Two new species of ''Stellifer'' from inshore waters of the eastern Pacific, with a redescription of ''S. ephelis'' (Perciformes: Sciaenidae).
''Rev. Biol. Trop.'' 49 Supl. 1 67-80. Many species are known commonly as stardrums. In the Americas, this is one of the most diverse genera among the sciaenids. Its members can be found in the

tropics The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

and

subtropics The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately 35° north and ...

and in shallow and deeper waters. Some are semianadromous, spawning in the ocean near

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

so the eggs and young will be taken into lower-salinity environments on the

tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravity, gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide t ...

s.Pombo, M., et al. (2012)
Population biology of ''Stellifer rastrifer'', ''S. brasiliensis'' and ''S. stellifer'' in Caraguatatuba Bay, northern coast of São Paulo, Brazil.
''Brazilian Journal of Oceanography'' 60(3) 271-82. The genus belongs to the subfamily Stelliferinae, whose members have double-chambered

swim bladder The swim bladder, gas bladder, fish maw, or air bladder is an internal gas-filled Organ (anatomy), organ that contributes to the ability of many bony fish (but not cartilaginous fish) to control their buoyancy, and thus to stay at their curren ...

s (the smaller front chamber is "yoke-shaped" and the main chamber is "carrot-shaped") and two pairs of large

otolith An otolith ( grc-gre, ὠτο-, ' ear + , ', a stone), also called statoconium or otoconium or statolith, is a calcium carbonate structure in the saccule or utricle of the inner ear, specifically in the vestibular system of vertebrates. The sa ...

s. These fish are very common in their range, and there are usually at least two species occurring together. ''

Stellifer rastrifer ''Stellifer'' is a genus of fish in the family Sciaenidae, the drums and croakers. It is found in New World waters.Chao, N. L. (2001)Two new species of ''Stellifer'' from inshore waters of the eastern Pacific, with a redescription of ''S. ephelis ...

'' is one of the most abundant sciaenids in the seas along the coast of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. These fish are carnivorous, with diet assessments of a few different species finding

mysids Mysida is an order of small, shrimp-like crustaceans in the malacostracan superorder Peracarida. Their common name opossum shrimps stems from the presence of a brood pouch or "marsupium" in females. The fact that the larvae are reared in this ...

such as ''

Mysidopsis coelhoi ''Mysidopsis'' is a genus of mysid shrimps in the family Mysidae. The sensitivity of these shrimps to water quality makes them suitable for bioassays. ''Mysidopsis bahia'' and ''Mysidopsis almyra'', which are used frequently to test for pestici ...

'',

copepod Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthos, benthic (living on the ocean floor) ...

s such as ''

Acartia lilljeborgii ''Acartia'' is a genus of marine calanoid copepods. They are epipelagic, estuarine, zooplanktonic found throughout the oceans of the world, primarily in temperate regions. Classification This genus contains the majority of species in the fam ...

'' and '' Pseudodiaptomus acutus'', sergestoid prawns such as '' Peisos petrunkevitchi'',

amphipods Amphipoda is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. Amphipods range in size from and are mostly detritivores or scavengers. There are more than 9,900 amphipod species so far descri ...

chaetognaths The Chaetognatha or chaetognaths (meaning ''bristle-jaws'') are a phylum of predatory marine worms that are a major component of plankton worldwide. Commonly known as arrow worms, about 20% of the known Chaetognatha species are benthic, and ca ...

isopods Isopoda is an order of crustaceans that includes woodlice and their relatives. Isopods live in the sea, in fresh water, or on land. All have rigid, segmented exoskeletons, two pairs of antennae, seven pairs of jointed limbs on the thorax, an ...

cumacea Cumacea is an order of small marine crustaceans of the superorder Peracarida, occasionally called hooded shrimp or comma shrimp. Their unique appearance and uniform body plan makes them easy to distinguish from other crustaceans. They live in so ...

ns,

ostracod Ostracods, or ostracodes, are a class of the Crustacea (class Ostracoda), sometimes known as seed shrimp. Some 70,000 species (only 13,000 of which are extant) have been identified, grouped into several orders. They are small crustaceans, typic ...

s, ascidian tunicates,

nematode The nematodes ( or grc-gre, Νηματώδη; la, Nematoda) or roundworms constitute the phylum Nematoda (also called Nemathelminthes), with plant-Parasitism, parasitic nematodes also known as eelworms. They are a diverse animal phylum inhab ...

polychaete Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class (biology), class of generally marine invertebrate, marine annelid worms, common name, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that ...

, and

bivalves Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, bival ...

, or at least their

siphons A siphon (from grc, σίφων, síphōn, "pipe, tube", also spelled nonetymologically syphon) is any of a wide variety of devices that involve the flow of liquids through tubes. In a narrower sense, the word refers particularly to a tube in a ...

.Pombo, M., et al. (2013)
Seasonality, dietary overlap and the role of taxonomic resolution in the study of the diet of three congeneric fishes from a tropical bay.
PLoS ONE 8(2) e56107. ''S. rastrifer'' is known to

cannibalize Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, b ...

juveniles of its own species.Camargo, M. and V. Isaac. (2004)
Food categories reconstruction and feeding consumption estimates for the sciaenid ''Macrodon ancylodon'' (Bloch & Schneider), and the congeneric fishes ''Stellifer rastrifer'' (Jordan) and ''Stellifer naso'' (Jordan) (Pisces, Perciformes) in the Caeté Estuary, northern coast of Brazil.
''Revista Brasileira de Zoologia'' 21(1) 85-89. Several species are common

bycatch Bycatch (or by-catch), in the fishing industry, is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while fishing for specific species or sizes of wildlife. Bycatch is either the wrong species, the wrong sex, or is undersized or juve ...

in the seabob shrimp industry.

Taxonomy

''Stellifer'' was first proposed as a

monospecific genus In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

in 1817 by

Lorenz Oken Lorenz Oken (1 August 1779 – 11 August 1851) was a German naturalist, botanist, biologist, and ornithologist. Oken was born Lorenz Okenfuss (german: Okenfuß) in Bohlsbach (now part of Offenburg), Ortenau, Baden, and studied natural history and ...

, based on ''Les Stelliferes'' of

Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier ...

of 1816. The only species then in the genus was ''Bodianus stellifer'' which had been described in 1789 by Marcus Elieser Bloch with its type locality being given as the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

in South Africa, although this is likely to be Suriname. ''

FishBase FishBase is a global species database of fish species (specifically finfish). It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on adult finfish on the web.

'' treats this genus and ''

Ophioscion ''Ophioscion'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the Family (biology), family Sciaenidae, the drums and croakers. These fishes are found in the Western Atlantic and Eastern Pacific Oceans. Taxonomy ''Ophioscion'' was first prop ...

'' as separate valid genera, while ''

Catalog of Fishes Catalog of Fishes is a comprehensive on-line database and reference work on the scientific names of fish species and genera. It is global in its scope and is hosted by the California Academy of Sciences. It has been compiled and is continuously up ...

'' treats ''Ophioscion'' as a synonym of ''Stellifer''. Some workers have placed this genus in 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 ...

Stelliferinae. However, 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 ...

'' does not recognise tribes or subfamilies within the Sciaenidae which it places in the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

Acanthuriformes Acanthuriformes is an order of ray-finned fishes, part of the Percomorpha clade. Some authorities place the fishes in the order within the Acanthuriformes in the suborders Acanthuroidea and Percoidea of the order Perciformes. Classification The ...

Species

''Stellifer'' contains the following recognized valid species: * '' Stellifer brasiliensis'' (

Schultz Schultz is a Germans, German surname derived from ''Schultheiß'', meaning village headman or constable/sheriff in the medieval sense (akin to today's office of mayor). It has many variations, such as Schuldt, Schulte, Schulten, Schultes, Schultheis ...

, 1945) * '' Stellifer cervigoni'' Chao, Carvalho-Filho & Andrade Santos, 2021 (Black gill stardrum) * '' Stellifer chaoi'' Aguilera, Solano & Valdez, 1983 * ''

Stellifer chrysoleuca ''Stellifer'' is a genus of fish in the family Sciaenidae, the drums and croakers. It is found in New World waters.Chao, N. L. (2001)Two new species of ''Stellifer'' from inshore waters of the eastern Pacific, with a redescription of ''S. ephelis ...

'' ( Günther, 1867) (Shortnose stardrum) * ''

Stellifer collettei ''Stellifer'' is a genus of fish in the family Sciaenidae, the drums and croakers. It is found in New World waters.Chao, N. L. (2001)Two new species of ''Stellifer'' from inshore waters of the eastern Pacific, with a redescription of ''S. ephelis ...

'' Chao, Carvalho-Filho & Andrade Santos, 2021 (Bigmouth stardrum) * '' Stellifer colonensis''

Meek Meekness is an attribute of human nature and behavior that has been defined as an amalgam of righteousness, inner humility, and patience. Meekness has been contrasted with humility alone insomuch as humility simply refers to an attitude towards o ...

Hildebrand Hildebrand is a character from Germanic heroic legend. ''Hildebrand'' is the modern German form of the name: in Old High German it is ''Hiltibrant'' and in Old Norse ''Hildibrandr''. The word ''hild'' means "battle" and ''brand'' means "sword". ...

, 1925 (Stardrum) * '' Stellifer ephelis Chirichigno, 1974 * '' Stellifer ericymba'' (

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

Gilbert Gilbert may refer to: People and fictional characters * Gilbert (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Gilbert (surname), including a list of people Places Australia * Gilbert River (Queensland) * Gilbert River (South ...

, 1882) (Hollow stardrum) * '' Stellifer fuerthii'' (

Steindachner Franz Steindachner (11 November 1834 in Vienna – 10 December 1919 in Vienna) was an Austrian zoologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. He published over 200 papers on fishes and over 50 papers on reptiles and amphibians. Steindachner describ ...

, 1875) (White stardrum) * '' Stellifer gomezi'' ( Cervigón, 2011) * '' Stellifer griseus'' Cervigón, 1966 (Gray stardrum) * '' Stellifer illecebrosus'' Gilbert, 1898 (Silver stardrum) * ''

Stellifer lanceolatus ''Stellifer'' is a genus of fish in the family Sciaenidae, the drums and croakers. It is found in New World waters.Chao, N. L. (2001)Two new species of ''Stellifer'' from inshore waters of the eastern Pacific, with a redescription of ''S. ephelis ...

'' (

Holbrook Holbrook may refer to: Places England *Holbrook, Derbyshire, a village *Holbrook, Somerset, a hamlet in Charlton Musgrove *Holbrook, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, a former mining village in Mosborough ward, now known as Halfway *Holbrook, Suffolk, a ...

, 1855) (American stardrum) * '' Stellifer macallisteri'' Chao, Carvalho-Filho & Andrade Santos, 2021 (Caribbean stardrum) * ''

Stellifer magoi ''Stellifer'' is a genus of fish in the family Sciaenidae, the drums and croakers. It is found in New World waters.Chao, N. L. (2001)Two new species of ''Stellifer'' from inshore waters of the eastern Pacific, with a redescription of ''S. ephelis ...

'' Aguilera, 1983 * ''

Stellifer mancorensis ''Stellifer'' is a genus of fish in the family Sciaenidae, the drums and croakers. It is found in New World waters.Chao, N. L. (2001)Two new species of ''Stellifer'' from inshore waters of the eastern Pacific, with a redescription of ''S. ephelis ...

'' Chirichigno, 1962 (Smooth stardrum) * '' Stellifer melanocheir

Eigenmann Eigenmann is a surname. Notable persons with that surname include: * Andi Eigenmann (born 1990), Filipino actress * Carl H. Eigenmann (1863–1927), German–American ichthyologist, husband of Rosa Eigenmann * Eduardo de Mesa Eigenmann, birth name ...

, 1918 (Black stardrum) * '' Stellifer menezesi'' Chao, Carvalho-Filho & Andrade Santos, 2021 (Brazilian stardrum) * '' Stellifer microps'' (Steindachner, 1864) (Smalleye stardrum) * '' Stellifer minor'' ( Tschudi, 1846) (Minor stardrum) * '' Stellifer musicki'' Chao, Carvalho-Filho & Andrade Santos, 2021 (Bigeye stardrum) * '' Stellifer naso'' (Jordan, 1889) * '' Stellifer oscitans'' (Jordan & Gilbert, 1882) (Yawning stardrum) * '' Stellifer pizarroensis'' Hildebrand, 1946 (Pizzaro stardrum) * ''

'' (Jordan, 1889) (Rake stardrum) * '' Stellifer stellifer'' (

Bloch Bloch is a surname of German origin. Notable people with this surname include: A–F * (1859-1914), French rabbi *Adele Bloch-Bauer (1881-1925), Austrian entrepreneur *Albert Bloch (1882–1961), American painter * (born 1972), German motor journal ...

, 1790) (Little croaker) * '' Stellifer venezuelae'' (Schultz, 1945) * '' Stellifer walkeri'' Chao, 2001 (Professor stardrum) * '' Stellifer wintersteenorum'' Chao, 2001 (Amigo stardrum) * '' Stellifer zestocarus'' Gilbert, 1898 (Softhead stardrum)

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q149158 Sciaenidae Taxa named by Lorenz Oken