''Sunagocia''is a genus of

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

demersal The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean (or deep lake) consisting of the part of the water column near to (and significantly affected by) the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a layer of ...

ray-finned fish belonging to the family

Platycephalidae The Platycephalidae are a family of marine fish, most commonly referred to as flatheads. They are relatives of the popular lionfish, belonging to the order Scorpaeniformes. Taxonomy Platycephalidae was first proposed as a family in 1839 by the E ...

. These fishes are native to the Indian and Pacific oceans.

Taxonomy

''Sunagocia'' was first proposed as a genus in 1996 as ''Eurycephalus'' by the Japanese

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octobe ...

Hisashi Imamura Hisashi is a masculine Japanese given name. Its meaning differs depending on the kanji used to write it. Kanji Single kanji used to write the name Hisashi include: *: "long time" *: "eternal" *: "still" *: "standard" *: "complete" *: "long" *: "li ...

, with ''Thysanophrys arenicola'', which had been described by Leonard Peter Schultz from Naen Island, Rongelap Atoll in 1966, as its type species. In 2003 Imamura renamed the genus ''Sunagocia'' because ''Eurycephalus''is preoccupied as a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

of the longhorn beetle genus '' Tapeina''. This genus is

classified Classified may refer to: General *Classified information, material that a government body deems to be sensitive *Classified advertising or "classifieds" Music *Classified (rapper) (born 1977), Canadian rapper *The Classified, a 1980s American roc ...

within the family Playtcephalidae, the flatheads which 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 ...

'' classifies within the

suborder Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...

Platycephaloidei 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 ...

Scorpaeniformes.

Etymology

''Sunagocia'' is a latinisation of ''sunagochi'' the Japanese common name for ''S. arenicola''. ''Gochi'', which is also spelled ''kochi'', is a general name in Japanese for flatheads and dragonets.

Species

There are currently five recognized species in this genus: * ''

Sunagocia arenicola ''Sunagocia''is a genus of marine, demersal ray-finned fish belonging to the family Platycephalidae. These fishes are native to the Indian and Pacific oceans. Taxonomy ''Sunagocia'' was first proposed as a genus in 1996 as ''Eurycephalus'' ...

'' (Schultz, 1966) (Broadhead flathead) * '' Sunagocia carbunculus'' ( Valenciennes, 1833) (Papillose flathead) * '' Sunagocia omanensis'' L. W. Knapp & J. E. Randall, 2013Knapp, L.W. & Randall, J.E. (2013): ''Sunagocia omanensis'', a new flathead fish (Scorpaeniformes, Platycephalidae) from the Western Indian Ocean, with comments on the distribution of ''Sunagocia carbuncula''. ''Zootaxa, 3718 (1): 97–100.'' * ''

Sunagocia otaitensis ''Sunagocia''is a genus of marine, demersal ray-finned fish belonging to the family Platycephalidae. These fishes are native to the Indian and Pacific oceans. Taxonomy ''Sunagocia'' was first proposed as a genus in 1996 as ''Eurycephalus'' by th ...

'' (

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

, 1829) (Fringelip flathead) * '' Sunagocia sainsburyi'' L. W. Knapp & Imamura, 2004 (Sainsbury's flathead)

Characteritics

''Sunagocia'' flatheads have lateral lines which typically have a scale count of 50-55, always less than 60 and the number of oblique scale rows which slant towards the tail from the back above the lateral line are roughly equal in number to the number of lateral line scales. The lateral line scales have two pores. The upper part of the head is spines but has no tubercles. The suborbital ridge normally has four clear spines in adults, less in younger fish. The lappet on the iris may be weakly or clearly branched. There are poorly developed sensory tubes partially covering the cheeks. The maximum publishedlength attained by these fishes varies from a

standard 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 m ...

of in ''S. sainsburyi'' to a maximum total length of in ''R. carbunculus''.

Distribution

''Sunagocia'' flatheads are found in the

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

where they occur from eastern Africa east to the Marshall Islands and Fiji, north to Taiwan and the Ryukyu Islands and south to northern Australia.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2014737 Platycephalidae