The smallspotted dart (''Trachinotus baillonii'') is an

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 ...

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 ...

pompano Pompanos ( ) are marine fishes in the genus ''Trachinotus'' in the family Carangidae (better known as "jacks"). Pompano may also refer to various other, similarly shaped members of the Carangidae, or the order Perciformes. Their appearance is ...

in the family

Carangidae The Carangidae are a family of ray-finned fish which includes the jacks, pompanos, jack mackerels, runners, and scads. It is the largest of the six families included within the order Carangiformes. Some authorities classify it as the only family ...

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Description

''Trachinotus baillonii'' can reach a maximum length of in males and a maximum weight of . The body color varies from silvery blue to grey above, with some small black spots on the flanks. The number of these spots increases with age. This fish is silvery white below. It has large, strong fins, a forked tail, and a narrow base. It feeds on small fishes.

Distribution and habitat

This species is widespread in the

, from the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...

and coast of East Africa to the

Gambier Islands The Gambier Islands ( or ) are an archipelago in French Polynesia, located at the southeast terminus of the Tuamotu archipelago. They cover an area of , and are made up of the Mangareva Islands, a group of high islands remnants of a caldera alo ...

and southern Japan. In the

Marquesas Islands The Marquesas Islands (; french: Îles Marquises or ' or '; Marquesan: ' ( North Marquesan) and ' ( South Marquesan), both meaning "the land of men") are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in th ...

, it is replaced by the similar Marquesas dart (''T. macrospilus''). The smallspotted dart is a reef-associated species. It can be found in lagoons and seaward reefs, usually in schools near the surface of waters.

Species description and etymology

''Trachinotus baillonii'' was formally described in 1801 by the French naturalist

Bernard Germain de Lacépède Bernard-Germain-Étienne de La Ville-sur-Illon, comte de Lacépède or La Cépède (; 26 December 17566 October 1825) was a French naturalist and an active freemason. He is known for his contribution to the Comte de Buffon's great work, the ...

(1726-1825) as ''Caesiomorus bailloni'', the name having been written in a manuscript by

Philibert Commerson Philibert Commerson (; 18 November 1727 – 14 March 1773), sometimes spelled Commerçon by contemporaries, was a French naturalist, best known for accompanying Louis Antoine de Bougainville on his voyage of circumnavigation in 1766–1769. ...

but was not formally published. The identity of the person nonoured in the specific name is not clear but is either the French naturalist Louis Antoine François Baillon (1778-1851), or his father Jean François Emmanuel Baillon (1742-1801), who was also a naturalist.

References

* Eschmeyer, William N., ed. 1998. Catalog of Fishes. Special Publication of the Center for Biodiversity Research and Information, n. 1, vol. 1-3. California Academy of Sciences. San Francisco,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States. 2905. . * Fenner, Robert M.: ''The Conscientious Marine Aquarist''. Neptune City,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, United States : T.F.H. Publications, 2001. * Helfman, G., B. Collette y D. Facey: ''The diversity of fishes''. Blackwell Science, Malden, Massachusetts, United States, 1997. * Hoese, D.F. 1986: . A M.M. Smith y P.C. Heemstra (eds.) Smiths' sea fishes. Springer-Verlag, Berlín, Germany. * Maugé, L.A. 1986. A J. Daget, J.-P. Gosse y D.F.E. Thys van den Audenaerde (eds.) Check-list of the freshwater fishes of Africa (CLOFFA). ISNB

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

; MRAC; y ORSTOM,

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, France. Vol. 2. * Moyle, P. y J. Cech.: ''Fishes: An Introduction to Ichthyology'', 4th. ed., Upper Saddle River,

, United States: Prentice-Hall. 2000. * Nelson, J.: ''

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 ...

'', 3rd. Ed.

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, United States: John Wiley and Sons. 1994. * Wheeler, A.: ''The World Encyclopedia of Fishes'', 2nd. Ed.,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

: Macdonald. 1985. {{Taxonbar, from=Q33021 smallspotted dart Fish of the Pacific Ocean Taxa named by Bernard Germain de Lacépède smallspotted dart