The streaked gurnard (''Chelidonichthys lastoviza''), also known as the African gurnard or rock gurnard, 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
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 fish is found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and western Indian Ocean. This species is of commercial importance as a food fish.
Taxonomy
The streaked gurnard was first formally
described as ''Trigla lastoviza'' in 1788 by the French
naturalist Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre
Abbé Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre (1752, Aveyron – 20 September 1804, Saint-Geniez-d'Olt) was a French zoologist who contributed sections on cetaceans, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and insects to the '' Tableau encyclopédi ...
with the
type locality given as
Split, Croatia
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.
In 1934
J. L. B. Smith described a new
subgenus of 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 ...
''
Trigla'' called ''Trigloporus'' for his newly described species ''Trigla africana''.
Some authorities have treated this as a valid genus but it is treated as a subgenus of ''
Chelidonichthys''.
Subspecies
There are two
subspecies of streaked gurnard:
[
* '' Chelidonichthys lastoviza lastoviza'' (Bonnaterre, 1788) - the eastern Atlantic south to Angola
* '' Chelidonichthys lastoviza africana'' (J. L. B. Smith, 1934) Southern Africa
]
Etymology
The specific name of the streaked gurnard, ''lastoviza'', is its common name in Split as reported by Brünnich whose description Bonnaterre based his published description on.[
]
Description
The streaked gurnard has a large triangular, bony head which bears many ridges and spines and with a deep occipital groove. There are two separate 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 ...
s, the first contains between 9 and 11 spines while the second dorsal fin , and the anal fin, both have between 14 and 17 fin rays. The nody is covered ib clear, oblique ridges of skin starting on the lateral line. The breast may or may not have scales but the belly is scaled.. The scales of the lateral line are enlarged and have small spines on them. The upper body is red, marked with dark spotting on the head and the back with a paler lower body. The pectoral fins are greyish marked with large dark blue spots.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 this species is , although is more typical/[
]
Distribution and habitat
The streaked gurnard is found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean from southern Norway and Scotland to the Cape of Good Hope and round coast of South Africa into the southwestern Indian Ocean as far north as Mozambique. It is also found around the Macaronesian Islands and the islands in the Gulf of Guinea
The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian (zero degrees latitude and longitude) is in ...
. It is found in the Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...
but is absent from the Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...
.[ This is a emersal species of rocky and sandy substrates and sand, found in shallow coastal water to waters as deep as .][
]
Biology
Streaked gurnards may form schools when they are near the surface. Their diet is made up of small crustaceans. In European population spawning occurs in midsummer, running from June to August.[
]
Fisheries
The streaked gurnard is frequently caught in trawls but only the largest specimens are retained. It is regularly appears in fish markets in the western Mediterranean, Adriatic and Cyprus, infrequently elsewhere. The catch is marketed fresh or chilled.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:gurnard, streaked
Fish of the East Atlantic
streaked gurnard
Streaked gurnard
Taxa named by Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre