The stocky rockcod (''Pagothenia phocae''), also known as the bandtail notothen, 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 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 ...

Nototheniidae : ''In some scientific literature, the term "cod icefish" is used to identify members of this family. This should not be confused with the term "icefish," which refers to the "white-blooded" fishes of the family Channichthyidae. See Icefish (disam ...

, the notothens or cod icefishes. It is found in the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-small ...

Taxonomy

The stocky rockcod was first formally described in 1844 as ''Notothenia phocae'' by the Scottish

naval surgeon A naval surgeon, or less commonly ship's doctor, is the person responsible for the health of the ship's company aboard a warship. The term appears often in reference to Royal Navy's medical personnel during the Age of Sail. Ancient uses Speciali ...

, naturalist and Arctic explorer John Richardson with the type locality given as the Antarctic Glacial Ocean, off

Victoria Land Victoria Land is a region in eastern Antarctica which fronts the western side of the Ross Sea and the Ross Ice Shelf, extending southward from about 70°30'S to 78°00'S, and westward from the Ross Sea to the edge of the Antarctic Plateau. I ...

, the type being found among the stomach contents of a seal. The genus ''

Pagothenia ''Pagothenia'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes, belonging to the family Nototheniidae, the notothens or cod icefishes. These fishes occur in the Southern Ocean. Taxonomy ''Pagothenia'' was formally described as a monotypic genus in 1936 b ...

'' was described by

John Treadwell Nichols John Treadwell Nichols (June 11, 1883 – November 10, 1958) was an American ichthyologist and ornithologist. Life and career Nichols was born in Jamaica Plain, Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Mary Blake (Slocum) and John White Treadwell Nic ...

and Francesca Raimonde La Monte in 1936 with a new species, ''P. antarctica'' as its type species and they noted that their new taxon was very alike Richardson's ''Notothenia phocae'', ''P. antractica'' is now considered to be a junior synonym of ''N. phocae''. The specific name ''phocae'' means "of a seal" as the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of sever ...

s were described after being identified in the stomach contents of a

leopard seal The leopard seal (''Hydrurga leptonyx''), also referred to as the sea leopard, is the second largest species of seal in the Antarctic (after the southern elephant seal). Its only natural predator is the orca. It feeds on a wide range of prey incl ...

(''Hydrurga leptonyx''). '' Fishbase'' and some other authorities refer to this species as ''Pagothenia brachysoma'' which was described as ''Trematomus brachysoma'' by in 1912 but ''

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 u ...

'' states that this is a synonym of ''Pagothenia phocae''.

Description

The stocky rockcod has an oblong body which is compressed towards the tail. It has a moderately sized mouth with the maxilla reaching to just beyond the front of the eye. The jaws are equipped with rows of small, sharp, conical teeth, larger at the front of the mouth and forming a single row at its back. The body is clothed in small, slightly

ctenoid A fish scale is a small rigid plate that grows out of the skin of a fish. The skin of most jawed fishes is covered with these protective scales, which can also provide effective camouflage through the use of reflection and colouration, as ...

and non ctenoid scales with a largely naked head. The lateral lines are rather vague and have some tubed scales. The first

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 ...

has 4-5 spines, the second dorsal fin has 29-32 soft rays and the anal fin has 26-30 soft rays. This species attains a maximum

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 . The overall colour is yellowish brown with a blue iridescence on the back, some individuals have patches of coral pink near the head. There are six dark spots on the back underneath the dorsal fins.

Distribution, habitat and biology

The stocky rockcod is found in the Southern Ocean near to the shores of Antarctica in the

Ross Sea The Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica, between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land and within the Ross Embayment, and is the southernmost sea on Earth. It derives its name from the British explorer James Clark Ross who ...

, Davis Sea,

Wilhelm II Coast Wilhelm may refer to: People and fictional characters * William Charles John Pitcher, costume designer known professionally as "Wilhelm" * Wilhelm (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname Other uses * Moun ...

, north of Edward VIII Ice Shelf and west coast of Antarctic Peninsula. This is a cryopelagic species, feeding on euphasids and copepods on the underside of the ice. The juveniles have been sound around the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 1 ...

and

Elephant Island Elephant Island is an ice-covered, mountainous island off the coast of Antarctica in the outer reaches of the South Shetland Islands, in the Southern Ocean. The island is situated north-northeast of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, west-so ...

in concentrations of krill.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q106412150, from2=Q2237510, from3=Q106412099 Stocky rock cod Fish described in 1844 Taxa named by John Richardson (naturalist)