Pine fish

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Pine fish
Goldstirn-Brunnenbauer (Opistognathus aurifrons)

Goldstirn-Brunnenbauer ( Opistognathus aurifrons )

Systematics
Acanthomorphata
Spinefish (Acanthopterygii)
Perch relatives (Percomorphaceae)
Ovalentaria
incertae sedis
Family : Pine fish
Scientific name
Opistognathidae
Swainson , 1839

The family of the pine fish (Opistognathidae), also known as fountain builders , belongs to the group of perch relatives (Percomorphaceae) and comprises four genera with over 80 species . The fish got their German names because of their large mouths or because of their vertical living corridors in the sea floor.

features

They are large-headed and loud-mouthed fish with a laterally flattened, elongated body covered with small cycloid scales of white, gray or dirty yellow in color. The sides of the head are usually flaky. The mouth is large, in some species the maxillary reaches almost to the gill cover . The head is scaly with a steep forehead, the large, oval eyes are set far in front. There are a number of small teeth along the edge of the jaw, one or more more may be further back. The palatine bone is toothless. The dorsal fin extends from the neck to the tail fin base and has nine to twelve mostly flexible fin spines and 12 to 22 segmented soft rays. There is often a slight indentation between the hard and soft part. The anal fin is also long, with two to three slender spines and 10 to 21 segmented rays. The pelvic fins stand in front of the pectoral fins and have a spine and five segmented soft rays. The inner three are weak, small and branched, the outer two unbranched and stronger. The caudal fin is rounded and is supported by 12 to 14 branched fin rays. The sideline is high, just below the dorsal fin, is incomplete and ends below the center of the dorsal fin. Your pores are usually embedded in the skin. Well builders are three to fifty centimeters long. Most species remain under a length of twelve centimeters. The species of the genus Stalix are only 2.2 to 6 centimeters long. When it comes to body color, different brown tones are usually predominant. There is often a black spot under the hard-nosed part of the dorsal fin.

distribution

Pine fish are found in the tropical Atlantic and Indo-Pacific , particularly species-rich in the Gulf of California and on the Pacific coast of Central America from Mexico to Panama .

behavior

Pine fish live in shallow water, usually no deeper than 30 meters, on open sandy or scree bottoms in which they build their vertical living passages. Some species have also been caught at depths of up to 200 meters. The inner walls of the caves are attached with the help of stones, pieces of coral , mussel shells or other things. Most species often live in small colonies in small areas, some others are solitary. The caves are only left for short distances to get food or to defend the territory. The rest of the day the fish remain in the burrow with their heads looking out. Threatened by a potential predator, they disappear tail first into their burrow. All jawfish are protogynous hermaphrodites that change sex from female to male in the course of their life. To mate, the male lures a female into his tube. The males of all jawfish are mouthbrooders . The young fish hatch after eight to nine days in the best-researched Goldstirn well-builder , which has already been bred in aquariums . The eggs stuck together in a clump with filaments are laid to mend the living tube and to feed. They feed on zooplankton and fry, which they prey a few centimeters above their tube swimming freely.

Systematics

Pine fish are closely related to the tortoiseshell (Gobiesocidae) and the slime fish- like (Blennioidei) and, with both taxa, form the superordinate order of the Blenniimorphae in the latest revision of the bony fish systematics.

Genera and species

There are about eighty described and many undescribed species in four genera:

Lonchopisthus micrognathus caught in the Gulf of Mexico
The undescribed Indo-Pacific eye-ring fountain builder looks out of his living tube.
Opistognathus iyonis
Opistognathus lonchurus
Opistognathus macrognathus
Muscat well builder ( Opistognathus muscatensis )
Opistognathus robinsi caught in the Gulf of Mexico.
Opistognathus whitehursti , caught in the Netherlands Antilles.
Stalix histrio
Stalix sp.

Aquarium keeping

Some species of pine fish, especially the gold-forehead well builder from the Caribbean , are kept in saltwater aquariums. You need high (more than 10 centimeters), not too fine substrates in order to be able to build your living tube. Pine fish only accept food that drifts in the water near their living tube. If the feed sinks to the ground, it is no longer considered. Therefore, they cannot be kept together with larger fish that snatch food away from them. The Goldstirn-Brunnenbauer is commercially grown in fish farms for aquarium purposes.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ricardo Betancur-R, Edward O. Wiley, Gloria Arratia, Arturo Acero, Nicolas Bailly, Masaki Miya, Guillaume Lecointre and Guillermo Ortí: Phylogenetic classification of bony fishes . BMC Evolutionary Biology, BMC series - July 2017, DOI: 10.1186 / s12862-017-0958-3

Web links

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