Pointed puffer fish

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Pointed puffer fish
Saddle puffer fish (Canthigaster valentini)

Saddle puffer fish ( Canthigaster valentini )

Systematics
Acanthomorphata
Spinefish (Acanthopterygii)
Perch relatives (Percomorphaceae)
Order : Puffer fish (Tetraodontiformes)
Family : Puffer fish (Tetraodontidae)
Genre : Pointed puffer fish
Scientific name
Canthigaster
Swainson , 1839

Pointed puffer fish ( Canthigaster ) are a genus of the puffer fish (Tetraodontidae). They live in the shallow waters of the tropical coral reefs of the Indo-Pacific and feed on all kinds of bottom-dwelling and sessile invertebrates. One species each also occurs in the tropical western Atlantic ( C. rostrata ), in the Macaronesian islands ( C. capistrata ), in St. Helena and Ascension ( C. sanctaehelenae ) and on the coast of West Africa ( C. supramacula ).

features

Inflated Canthigaster solandri

Pointed puffer fish are between 5 and 31 centimeters long. Its German name comes from the long and pointed snout. In contrast to the round cross-section of the other puffer fish , their body is somewhat flattened on the sides (only very slightly in some species). Like all puffer fish, they can inflate themselves in case of danger by having strong muscles jerkily press water from the oral cavity into a belly-side, sac-like enlargement of the stomach.

Pointed puffer fish have only a single outer nostril on each side of their snout. The lateral line organ is normal. The small gill slits end at the bottom halfway up the base of the pectoral fin . On the middle line of the belly side, which is usually reinforced with a number of small spines, they show a longitudinal, keel-like fold when excited or displeased.

etymology

William Swainson usually gives keyword-like diagnostic features to his new generic and sub-generic names. Some of the names interpret (but often contain serious misprints). For the Tetraod [ont] ingenus Canthigaster he specifies “belly with spikes” (γαστήρ “belly”). Therefore “canthi-” should come from ἀκάνϑη (acanthe) “sting”, which is philologically wrong - he (or possibly an informant) thought the α- maybe an α intensum (reinforcing α), but here it is part of the word stem (ἀκη). (Swainson often uses canth- for acanth-, e.g. in Platycanthus (today Aracana ), lc ) In terms of content, the derivation of κάνϑις "wheel tires" would be more appropriate - but it is unlikely that Swainson already had the occasional, arched longitudinal fold formation on living fish (see above) has observed.-In any case, Canthigaster's interpretation remains somewhat uncertain.

Systematics

Pointed puffer fish were classified as an independent family (Canthigasteridae) in older publications and referred to as Krugfische in German . Today they are considered the monogeneric subfamily of the puffer fish . In a more recent phylogenetic study based on the sequencing of the entire mitochondrial genome , however, it was shown that they are deep within the second subfamily, known as round-headed puffer fish, and that the delimitation of the subfamilies can therefore at least not be supported by molecular genetics.

Canthigaster capistrata with cleaner shrimp
Canthigaster papua
Canthigaster rostrata
Canthigaster compressa

species

There are 37 types:

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ William Swainson: On the history and classification of fishes, amphibians, and reptiles. Volume 2 (1839): p. 194 restricted preview in the Google book search
  2. ↑ Y. Yamanoue, M. Miya, et al. a .: A new perspective on phylogeny and evolution of tetraodontiform fishes (Pisces: Acanthopterygii) based on whole mitochondrial genome sequences: basal ecological diversification? In: BMC Evolutionary Biology. Volume 8, 2008, p. 212, ISSN  1471-2148 . doi : 10.1186 / 1471-2148-8-212 . PMID 18638411 . PMC 2500030 (free full text).

Web links

Commons : Canthigaster  - collection of images, videos and audio files