subfamily
In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...
of the
family
Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
dottyback
The dottybacks are a family, Pseudochromidae, of fishes which were formerly classified in the order Perciformes, but this has been revised and the family is regarded as of uncertain affinities, or ''incertae sedis'' within the Ovalentaria, a cl ...
s, it consists of small species of coral-reef inhabiting fish which are distributed throughout 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 ...
.
Characteristics
Workers have established that this subfamily is
monophyletic
In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...
. They have a
pelvic fin
Pelvic fins or ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral surface of fish. The paired pelvic fins are homologous to the hindlimbs of tetrapods.
Structure and function Structure
In actinopterygians, the pelvic fin consists of two en ...
which has a single spine and three or four unbranched soft rays, their heads are covered in scales, most of the rays in their
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 conv ...
s are simple, they have teeth on the
palatine bone
In anatomy, the palatine bones () are two irregular bones of the facial skeleton in many animal species, located above the uvula in the throat. Together with the maxillae, they comprise the hard palate. (''Palate'' is derived from the Latin ''pa ...
; their
pectoral fin
Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as ...
s have 17–19 rays and the
lateral line
The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelial ...
has one anterior-pored scale.
Genera
The following
genera
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 nomenclat ...
are included in the subfamily Pseudoplesiopinae:
* ''
Amsichthys
The bugeye dottyback (''Amsichthys knighti''), also known as Knight's dottyback, is a species of ray-finned fish, the only species in the monospecific genus ''Amsichthys'', belonging to the subfamily Pseudoplesiopinae, of the family Pseudochromi ...
Chlidichthys
''Chlidichthys'' is a genus of ray-finned fishes from the western and central Indian Ocean, it is part of the subfamily Pseudoplesiopinae which in turn is a constituent subfamily of the dottyback family, the Pseudochromidae. Within the Pseudople ...
''
J.L.B. Smith
James Leonard Brierley Smith (26 September 1897 – 8 January 1968) was a South African ichthyologist, organic chemist, and university professor. He was the first to identify a taxidermied fish as a coelacanth, at the time thought to be long e ...
, 1953
* ''
Lubbockichthys
''Lubbockichthys'' is a genus of ray-finned fish from the Indo-Pacific region which belongs to the subfamily Pseudoplesiopinae, part of the family Pseudochromidae, the dottybacks. The species in this genus have small cycloid scales throughout t ...
Pectinochromis
''Pectinochromis'' is a monospecific genus of ray-finned fish from the subfamily Pseudoplesiopinae in the family Pseudochromidae, the dottybacks. The only species in the genus is ''Pectinochromis lubbocki'', a small reef living dottyback from t ...
Pseudoplesiops
''Pseudoplesiops'' is a genus of dottyback fishes currently with ten described species. They are distributed in the south Pacific and in the Indian Ocean as far west as the Maldive Islands.
Species
*'' Pseudoplesiops annae'' ( Weber, 1913) (Ann ...