The piper gurnard (''Trigla lyra''), also known as the piper or the lyre 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 marine, demersal

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 ...

from 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. It is found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. It is the only species in the

monotypic 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 "unispe ...

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''.

Taxonomy

The piper gurnard was first formally described in 1758 by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...

in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae with its type locality given as "British Seas". It is the only species in the monotypic genus ''Trigla'' which is classified within the subfamily

Triglinae Triglinae is a subfamily of demersal, marine ray-finned fishes, part of the family Triglidae, the gurnards and searobins. These gurnards are found in all the tropical and temperate oceans of the world except for the Western Atlantic Ocean. Taxonom ...

, within the family Triglidae. In 1883 David Starr Jordan and

Charles Henry Gilbert Charles Henry Gilbert (December 5, 1859 in Rockford, Illinois – April 20, 1928 in Palo Alto, California) was a pioneer ichthyologist and fishery biologist of particular significance to natural history of the western United States. He c ...

designated this species as the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specime ...

of the genus ''Lyra'', which was not thought to be monotypic at that time. The genus name, ''Trigla'', is a classical name for the red mullet (''

Mullus barbatus ''Mullus barbatus'' (red mullet) is a species of goatfish found in the Mediterranean Sea, Sea of Marmara, the Black Sea and the eastern North Atlantic Ocean, where its range extends from Scandinavia to Senegal. They are fished, mostly by trawlin ...

''), Artedi thought the red mullet and the gurnards were the same as fishes from both taxa are known to create sounds taken out of the water as well as being red in colour. Linnaeus realised they were different and classified ''Trigla'' as a gurnard, in contradiction of the ancient usage. The specific name ''lyra'' means "lyre", an allusion Linnaeus did not explain, it may refer to the protuberances, plates and spines of the head together creating a lyre-like shape when looked at from above.

Description

The piper gurnard has a large head bearing numerous spines and ridges, but lacking a deep occipital groove. 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 between 8 and 10 spines, the forward edge of the first dorsal fin spine is smooth. Both the second dorsal and the anal fin contain 15 or 16 soft rays. There are no scales on the breast and the belly is only partially covered in scales. The scales in the lateral line are small and tubular. The caudal fin is slightly concave. The pelvic fins are well developed and have a single spine and 5 soft rays. The pectoral fins are even larger, reaching up to the front rays of the second dorsal fin and the lower 3 rays are separate, thickened and fingerlike, as is typical of the gurnards. The upper body us red in colour while the lower body is pale. The anal and pectoral fin membranes are dusky, marked with small blue spots. The maximum published total length for this species is , although is more usual.

Distribution and habitat

The piper gurnard is found in the eastern Atlantic from Scotland south to

Walvis Bay Walvis Bay ( en, lit. Whale Bay; af, Walvisbaai; ger, Walfischbucht or Walfischbai) is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies. It is the second largest city in Namibia and the largest coastal city in the country. The ci ...

in Namibia, including the

Macaronesian Islands Macaronesia (Portuguese: ''Macaronésia,'' Spanish: ''Macaronesia'') is a collection of four volcanic archipelagos in the North Atlantic, off the coasts of Africa and Europe. Each archipelago is made up of a number of Atlantic oceanic islands ...

and the Gulf of Guinea Islands, it is found in the Mediterranean Sea but not 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 ...

. It is a deepwater demersal fish found at depths as deep as and prefers sandy and muddy substrates.

Biology

The piper gurnard has a diet dominated by crustaceans, especially the neritic species, like schools of shrimps, but also benthic species, such as crabs and hermit crabs. It will also eat echinoderms , particularly the

brittle stars Brittle stars, serpent stars, or ophiuroids (; ; referring to the serpent-like arms of the brittle star) are echinoderms in the class Ophiuroidea, closely related to starfish. They crawl across the sea floor using their flexible arms for locomo ...

polychaete Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine annelid worms, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are made ...

s and the small benthic fishes. Sexual maturity is attained at around and the pelagic eggs are spawned in the summer months. The larvae are already armoured with bony plates and some spines. These fish may live for up to 7 years.

Fisheries

The piper gurnard is not targeted, and not exported, in the eastern central Atlantic but it is caught and consumed on local scales. However, in the Mediterranean this species is subjected to a commercial fishery and is a regular item for sale in markets in Morocco, Greece and Turkey, ad occasionally elsewhere. the flesh is sold fresh or refrigerated.

References

External links

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Fishbase
{{Triglidae Triglinae Fish of Africa Fish of the Atlantic Ocean Fish of Europe Fish of the Mediterranean Sea Fish of the North Sea Fish described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus