''Sillago'' is a

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 nomencla ...

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

in 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. Ideall ...

Sillaginidae The Sillaginidae, commonly known as the smelt-whitings, whitings, sillaginids, sand borers and sand-smelts, are a family of benthic coastal marine fish in the order Perciformes. The smelt-whitings inhabit a wide region covering much of the I ...

and the only non-

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 "unispec ...

genus in the family. Distinguishing the

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), 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 ...

can be difficult, with many similar in appearance and colour, forcing the use of

swim bladder The swim bladder, gas bladder, fish maw, or air bladder is an internal gas-filled organ that contributes to the ability of many bony fish (but not cartilaginous fish) to control their buoyancy, and thus to stay at their current water depth wi ...

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

as a definitive feature. All species are

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "t ...

in nature and generally

coastal fish Coastal fish, also called inshore fish or neritic fish, inhabit the sea between the shoreline and the edge of the continental shelf. Since the continental shelf is usually less than deep, it follows that pelagic coastal fish are generally epi ...

, living in shallow, protected waters although there are exceptions. Minor

fisheries Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, bot ...

exist around various species of ''Sillago'', making them of minor importance in most of their range. This genus has the widest

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...

of any smelt-whiting genus, spanning much of the

Indo Indo may refer to: * Indo-, a prefix indicating India or the Indian Subcontinent * Indonesia, a country in Asia ** INDO LINES, callsign of Indonesian Airlines ** Indo people, people of mixed European and Indonesian ancestry ** Indo cuisine, fusion ...

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. The genus ranges from the east coast of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in the east and Southern Australia in the south, with most species concentrated around

South East Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

, the

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guinea. In ...

n Archipelago and Australia. Many species have overlapping distribution, often making positive identification hard.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Sillago'' is one of five genera in the family

, itself part of the

Percoidea Percoidea is a superfamily of fish of the order Perciformes. The superfamily includes about 3,374 species. Classification The Percoidesa are classified in the 5th Edition of the ''Fishes of the World'' as follows: * Percoidea ...

, a

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 ...

of the

Perciformes Perciformes (), also called the Percomorpha or Acanthopteri, is an order or superorder of ray-finned fish. If considered a single order, they are the most numerous order of vertebrates, containing about 41% of all bony fish. Perciformes means ...

. The name was first coined by famed taxonomist

Georges 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 ...

as a genus for his newly described species, ''Sillago acuta'', which was later found to be a

junior synonym The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linnae ...

of ''S. sihama''. John Richardson placed the genus, along with ''

Sillaginodes The King George whiting (''Sillaginodes punctatus''), also known as the spotted whiting or spotted sillago, is a coastal marine fish of the smelt-whitings family Sillaginidae. The King George whiting is endemic to Australia, inhabiting the sou ...

'' and ''

Sillaginopsis The Gangetic whiting, ''Sillaginopsis panijus'' (also known as the flathead sillago), is a species of inshore marine and estuarine fish of the smelt-whiting family, Sillaginidae. It is the most distinctive Asian member of the family due to it ...

'' in a family, which he named the Sillaginidae in 1846. Many species, both valid and invalid were added to the genus and it was not until 1985 when Roland McKay of the

Queensland Museum The Queensland Museum is the state museum of Queensland, dedicated to natural history, cultural heritage, science and human achievement. The museum currently operates from its headquarters and general museum in South Brisbane with specialist m ...

published a revision of the family Sillaginidae that the complex relationships between these names was cleared up. McKay further divided ''Sillago'' into three

subgenera In biology, a subgenus (plural: subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between t ...

based primarily on the morphology of the swim bladder.McKay, R.J. (1985): A revision of the fishes of the family Sillaginidae. ''Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, 22 (1): 1-73.''

Species

There are currently 31 recognized species in this genus: * '' Sillago aeolus'' D. S. Jordan & Evermann, 1902 (Oriental sillago) * '' Sillago analis'' Whitley, 1943 (Golden-lined sillago) * '' Sillago arabica''

McKay McKay, MacKay or Mackay is a Scottish / Irish surname. The last phoneme in the name is traditionally pronounced to rhyme with 'eye', but in some parts of the world this has come to rhyme with 'hey'. In Scotland, it corresponds to Clan Mackay. No ...

& McCarthy, 1989 (Arabian sillago) * '' Sillago argentifasciata'' C. T. Martin & Montalban, 1935 (Silver-banded sillago) * '' Sillago asiatica''

, 1982 (Asian sillago) * '' Sillago attenuata''

, 1985 (Slender sillago) * '' Sillago bassensis'' G. Cuvier, 1829 (Western school sillago) * '' Sillago boutani'' Pellegrin, 1905 (Boutan's sillago) * '' Sillago burrus'' J. Richardson, 1842 (Western trumpeter sillago) * '' Sillago caudicula'' Kaga, Imamura & Nakaya, 2010 Kaga, T., Imamura, H. & Nakaya, K. (2010): A new sand whiting, ''Sillago'' (''Sillago'') ''caudicula'', from Oman, the Indian Ocean (Perciformes: Sillaginidae). ''Ichthyological Research, 57 (4): 367-372.'' * '' Sillago ciliata'' G. Cuvier, 1829 (Sand sillago) * '' Sillago flindersi''

, 1985 (Flinders' sillago) * '' Sillago indica''

, Dutt & Sujatha, 1985 (Indian sillago) Kaga, T. & Ho, H.-C. (2012)
Redescription of ''Sillago'' (''Parasillago'') ''indica'' McKay, Dutt & Sujatha, 1985 (Perciformes: Sillaginidae), with a reassignment to the subgenus ''Sillago''.
''Zootaxa, 3513: 61-67.'' * '' Sillago ingenuua''

, 1985 (Bay sillago) * '' Sillago intermedius'' Wongratana, 1977 (Intermediate sillago) * '' Sillago japonica'' Temminck & Schlegel, 1843 (Japanese sillago) * '' Sillago lutea''

, 1985 (Mud sillago) * '' Sillago maculata'' Quoy &

Gaimard Joseph Paul Gaimard (31 January 1793 – 10 December 1858) was a French naval surgeon and naturalist. Biography Gaimard was born at Saint-Zacharie on January 31, 1793. He studied medicine at the naval medical school in Toulon, subseque ...

, 1824 (Trumpeter sillago) * '' Sillago megacephalus'' S. Y. Lin, 1933 (Large-headed sillago) * '' Sillago microps''

, 1985 (Small-eyed sillago) * '' Sillago nierstraszi''

Hardenberg Hardenberg (; nds-nl, Haddenbarreg or '' 'n Arnbarg'') is a city and municipality in the province of Overijssel, Eastern Netherlands. The municipality of Hardenberg has a population of about 60,000, with about 19,000 living in the city. It recei ...

, 1941 (Rough sillago) * '' Sillago nigrofasciata'' J. G. Xiao, Zheng-Sen Yu, Na Song & T. X. Gao, 2021Xiao J-G, Yu Z-S, Song N, Gao T-X (2021) Description of a new species, Sillago nigrofasciata sp. nov. (Perciformes, Sillaginidae) from the southern coast of China. ZooKeys 1011: 85-100. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1011.57302 * '' Sillago parvisquamis'' T. N. Gill, 1861 (Small-scale sillago) * '' Sillago robusta'' Stead, 1908 (Stout sillago) * '' Sillago schomburgkii'' W. K. H. Peters, 1864 (Yellow-fin sillago) * '' Sillago shaoi'' T. X. Gao & J. G. Xiao, 2016 Xiao, J.-G., Song, N., Han, Z.-Q. & Gao, T.-X. (2016)
Description and DNA Barcoding of a New ''Sillago'' species, ''Sillago shaoi'' (Perciformes: Sillaginidae), in the Taiwan Strait.
''Zoological Studies, 55 (47): 1-10.'' * ''

Sillago sihama The northern whiting (''Sillago sihama''), also known as the silver whiting and sand smelt, is a marine fish, the most widespread and abundant member of the smelt-whiting family Sillaginidae. The northern whiting was the first species of sillagi ...

'' ( Forsskål, 1775) (Silver sillago) * '' Sillago sinica'' T. X. Gao, Ji , J. G. Xiao, T. Q. Xue, Yanagimoto & Setoguma, 2011 (Chinese sillago) Gao, T.-X., Ji, D.-P., Xiao, Y.-S., Xue, T.-Q., Yanagimoto, T. & Setoguma, T. (2011)
Description and DNA Barcoding of a New ''Sillago'' Species, ''Sillago sinica'' (Perciformes: Sillaginidae), from Coastal Waters of China.
''Zoological Studies, 50 (2): 254-263.'' * '' Sillago soringa'' Dutt & Sujatha, 1982 * '' Sillago suezensis'' Golani, R. Fricke & Tikochinski, 2013 Golani, D., Fricke, R. & Tikochinski, Y. (2013): ''Sillago suezensis'', a new whiting from the northern Red Sea, and status of ''Sillago erythraea'' Cuvier (Teleostei: Sillaginidae). '' Journal of Natural History, 48 (7-8): 413-428.'' * '' Sillago vincenti''

, 1980 (Vincent's sillago) * '' Sillago vittata''

, 1985 (Banded sillago)

Relationship to humans

Various species of this genus represent minor local

in their ranges, with many having commercial importance. Fish are taken by a variety of methods including

seine ) , mouth_location = Le Havre/Honfleur , mouth_coordinates = , mouth_elevation = , progression = , river_system = Seine basin , basin_size = , tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle , tributaries ...

gill A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...

and

cast net A casting net, also called a throw net, is a net used for fishing. It is a circular net with small weights distributed around its edge. The net is cast or thrown by hand in such a manner that it spreads out while it's in the air before it sink ...

s as well as by

line Line most often refers to: * Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity * Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to: Art ...

Recreational fishing Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is professional fishing for profit (economics), profit; or subsistence fishing, ...

for them is common, especially in Australia where they are valued as

food fish Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is inges ...

or for live bait for larger species. Estuarine

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

has utilized sillagos as an important species and similar trials have been conducted in Australia. They can be very delicious when deep fried.

References

{{Authority control Extant Rupelian first appearances Marine fish genera Sillaginidae Taxa named by Georges Cuvier Rupelian genus first appearances