Soap bass

Soap bass
Rypticus saponaceus
Systematics
Acanthomorphata Spinefish (Acanthopterygii) Perch relatives (Percomorphaceae) Order : Perch-like (Perciformes) Family : Grouper (Epinephelidae) Subfamily : Soap bass
Scientific name
Grammistinae
Poey , 1875

The soap bass (Grammistinae) are a family of groupers (Epinephelidae), which consists of eight genera and over 30 species . In older publications the group is listed as the family Grammistidae. Soap bass live in the tropical and subtropical regions of the Indo-Pacific and the western Atlantic . During the day the animals live hidden in caves and under overhangs. They are predatory fish and hunt fish, crabs and other invertebrates.

features

Soap bass grows to a maximum of 35 centimeters in length, but many species remain smaller. Its mouth is on top, the hard-radiating part of the dorsal fin is small. The dorsal, anal and caudal fins are rounded.

All soap bass have a poisonous, bitter-tasting skin mucus to which they owe their German name, as it foams soapy when released. These skin toxins ( Grammistine ) are released in large quantities in stressful situations, are intended to deter predators and possibly also protect against skin parasites. In show aquariums, a soap bass can kill all remaining fish when it releases its mucus.

Reproduction

Little is known about reproduction so far. The fish are said to spawn at dusk. A territorial male woos females who come into his territory by prancing around them. The spawning process takes place in open water. The eggs of almost all species and the larvae are pelagic . Only the genus Pseudogramma is said to lay its eggs on the ground. The larvae of the soap bass already resemble the adult animals and differ from them only by one or two elongated fin rays in the dorsal fin.

Genera and species

Six-striped soap bass ( Grammistes sexlineatus )

Snowflake sea ​​bass ( Pogonoperca punctata )

Pseudogramma polyacanthum

Rypticus bistrispinus

Rypticus maculatus

• Aporops Schultz, 1943
  • Aporops bilinearis Schultz, 1943
• Belonoperca Fowler & Bean, 1930
  • Belonoperca chabanaudi Fowler & Bean, 1930
  • Belonoperca pylei Baldwin & Smith, 1998
• Grammistes Bloch & Schneider, 1801
  • Six-striped soap bass ( Grammistes sexlineatus ) (Thunberg, 1792)
• Grammistops Schultz in Schultz et al., 1953
  • Grammistops ocellatus Schultz in Schultz et al., 1953
• Pogonoperca Günther, 1859
  • Pogonoperca ocellata Günther, 1859
  • Snowflake sea ​​bass ( Pogonoperca punctata ) (Valenciennes in Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1830)
• Pseudogramma Bleeker, 1875
  • Pseudogramma astigma Randall & Baldwin, 1997
  • Pseudogramma australis Randall & Baldwin, 1997
  • Pseudogramma axelrodi Allen & Robertson, 1995
  • Pseudogramma cernunnos Prokofiev, 2019
  • Pseudogramma erythrea Randall & Baldwin, 1997
  • Pseudogramma galzini Williams & Viviani, 2016
  • Pseudogramma gregoryi (Breder, 1927)
  • Pseudogramma guineensis (Norman, 1935)
  • Pseudogramma megamyctera Randall & Baldwin, 1997
  • Pseudogramma paucilepis Williams & Viviani, 2016
  • Pseudogramma pectoralis Randall & Baldwin, 1997
  • Pseudogramma polyacanthum (Bleeker, 1856)
  • Pseudogramma thaumasia (Gilbert in Jordan & Evermann, 1900)
  • Pseudogramma xantha Randall, Baldwin & Williams, 2002
• Rypticus Cuvier, 1829
  • Rypticus bicolor Valenciennes, 1846
  • Rypticus bistrispinus (Mitchill, 1818)
  • Rypticus bornoi Beebe & Tee-Van, 1928
  • Rypticus carpenteri Baldwin & Weigt, 2012
  • Rypticus courtenayi McCarthy, 1979
  • Rypticus maculatus Holbrook, 1855
  • Rypticus nigripinnis Gill, 1861
  • Rypticus randalli Courtenay, 1967
  • Three-pronged soapfish ( Rypticus saponaceus ) (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
  • Rypticus subbifrenatus Gill, 1861
• Suttonia Smith, 1953
  • Suttonia coccinea Endo & Kenmotsu, 2013
  • Suttonia lineata Gosline, 1960
  • Suttonia suttoni Smith, 1953

literature

• Joseph S. Nelson : Fishes of the World. John Wiley & Sons, 2006, ISBN 0-471-25031-7 .
• Kurt Fiedler: Textbook of Special Zoology, Volume II, Part 2: Fish. Gustav Fischer Verlag Jena, 1991, ISBN 3-334-00339-6 .
• Hans A. Baensch / Robert A. Patzner: Mergus Sea Water Atlas Volume 7 Perciformes (perch-like). Mergus-Verlag, Melle, 1998, ISBN 3-88244-107-0 .
• Ewald Lieske / Robert F. Myers: Coral fish of the world. Year publisher, 1994, ISBN 3-86132-112-2 .
• Dieter Eichler / Robert F. Myers: Coral fish Indo-Pacific. Jahr-Verlag GmbH & Co., 1997, ISBN 3-86132-225-0 .

Web links

Commons : Soap Bass (Grammistinae)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Soap Bass on Fishbase.org (English)
• Soap bass at malediventraum.de