Pointed head grouper
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Pointed head grouper ( Epinephelus leucogrammicus ) |
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| Epinephelus leucogrammicus | ||||||||||||
| ( Valenciennes , 1828) |
The pointed head grouper ( Epinephelus leucogrammicus , syn .: Anyperodon leucogrammicus ) occurs in the Red Sea and the Indo-Pacific from Mozambique to Japan , Australia and the Phoenix Islands . It prefers coral-rich zones in lagoons outside reefs at depths of one to 50 meters and often hides in caves and crevices. The 65 centimeter long fish feeds mainly on smaller fish and possibly larger crustaceans .
features
The pointed head grouper has an elongated, laterally compressed body. The mouth is always significantly longer than the diameter of the eyes. The "dog teeth" in the front part of both jaws, which are common in groupers, are rudimentary or missing. The teeth on the sides of the lower jaw are of different lengths. In contrast to all other groupers, the palatine bone of the pointed head grouper is toothless.
The dorsal fin has eleven hard and 14 to 16 soft rays, the anal fin has three hard and eight to nine soft rays. The soft rayed part of the dorsal fin and the anal fin are rounded. The pectoral and pelvic fins are small and only about half as long as the length of the head, the pelvic fins do not reach the anus. The caudal fin is rounded.
Adult pointed head groupers are light greenish or gray-brown with a multitude of red-orange spots on the head, body, dorsal and caudal fin. On the flanks you can see four white longitudinal bands that get weaker with age. The pectoral fins as well as the rear areas of the dorsal, anus and caudal fin are transparent.
Young fish that are smaller than eight centimeters show a color mimicry of wrasse of the genus Halichoeres . They are of a golden yellow basic color and show blue-gray vertical stripes. On the caudal fin root and in the dorsal fin each sit an eye spot .
Systematics
The pointed head grouper has the most elongated and most compressed body of all groupers. He is also the only one whose palatal bone is toothless. It originally stood alone in the monotypic genus Anyperodon , but was placed in an extensive revision published in September 2018 in the genera Epinephelus , with which it shares eleven fin spines in the dorsal fin, as well as other features.
literature
- Dieter Eichler, Robert F. Myers: Korallenfische Indopazifik , Jahr-Verlag GmbH & Co., ISBN 3-86132-225-0
- Ewald Lieske, Robert F. Myers: Coral fish of the world . Year Top Special Verlag Hamburg, ISBN 3-86132-112-2
- Baensch, Patzner: Mergus Sea Water Atlas Volume 7 Perciformes (perch-like) . Mergus-Verlag, Melle, ISBN 3-88244-107-0
- Phillip C. Heemstra: Groupers of the World (Family Serranidae, Subfamily Epinephelinae) An Annotated and Illustrated Catalog of the Grouper, Rockcod, Hind, Coral Grouper and Lyretail Species . FAO Species Catalog for Fishery Purposes. Vol. 16. FAO Rome 1993; Pages 69-251. ( Full PDF )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ma, KY & Craig, MT: An Inconvenient Monophyly: An Update on the Taxonomy of the Groupers (Epinephelidae). Copeia 106 (3): 443-456. 2018. doi: 10.1643 / CI-18-055
Web links
- Anyperodon leucogrammicus on Fishbase.org (English)
- Anyperodon leucogrammicus inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013.1. Posted by: Heemstra, PC, Pollard, D., Samoilys, M., Yeeting, B. & Choat, JH, 2008. Retrieved September 23, 2013.