Emmelichthys
Emmelichthys
Genus of fishes
Emmelichthys is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Emmelichthyidae, the rovers and bonnetmouths. The species in this genus are found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.
| Emmelichthys | |
|---|---|
| Cape bonnetmouth (E. nitidus) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Acanthuriformes |
| Family: | Emmelichthyidae |
| Genus: | Emmelichthys J. Richardson, 1845 |
| Type species | |
| Emmelichthys nitidus J. Richardson, 1845 | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
| |
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Emmelichthys was first proposed as a monospecific genus in 1845 by the Scottish naval surgeon, naturalist and Arctic explorer Sir John Richardson when he described Emmelichthys nitidus[1] from Western Australia.[2] The genus is classified in the small family Emmelichthyidae which is included in the order Acanthuriformes.[3]
Emmelichthys prefices ichthys, meaning "fish" with emmeles, a word Richardson translated as "concinnus", that is something "skillfully put together", a reference to the "peculiarly neat aspect" of the E. nitidus.[4]
There are seven species in the genus, including one newly described in 2014:[5]
- Emmelichthys cyanescens Guichenot, 1848
- Emmelichthys elongatus Kotlyar, 1982
- Emmelichthys karnellai Heemstra & J. E. Randall, 1977 – Karnella's rover
- Emmelichthys marisrubri R. Fricke, Golani & Appelbaum-Golani, 2014[6]
- Emmelichthys nitidus J. Richardson, 1845 – Cape bonnetmouth
- Emmelichthys ruber Trunov, 1976 – red rover
- Emmelichthys struhsakeri Heemstra & J. E. Randall, 1977 – golden redbait
Emmelichthys fishes have slender cylindrical bodies, no deeper than 25% of their standard length. There is a clear gap between the spiny and soft rayed parts of the dorsal fin and the ultimate rays of both the dorsal and anal fins are markedly longer than the rays in front of them.[7] The rear edge of the operculum has 2 or 3 flat spines and the preoperculum has smooth or weakly serrated edge.[8] The largest species is E. nitidus with a maximum published total length of 55 cm (22 in) while the smallest is E. marisrubri with a maximum published standard length of 7.4 cm (2.9 in).[5]
Emmelichthys fishes are found largely in the southern hemisphere in the eastern, central and western Pacific, the Indian Ocean and the southeastern and western central Atlantic Ocean.[5]
- Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Emmelichthyidae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
- Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Emmelichthys". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
- Nelson, Joseph S.; Grande, Terry C.; Wilson, Mark V. H. (2016). Fishes of the World (5th ed.). Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons. p. 497-502. doi:10.1002/9781119174844. ISBN 978-1-118-34233-6.
- Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara, eds. (5 April 2024). "Order ACANTHURIFORMES (part 3): Families CALLANTHIIDAE, DINOPERCIDAE, EMMELICHTHYIDAE, MALACANTHIDAE, MONODACTYLIDAE, MORONIDAE, SILLAGINIDAE, PRIACANTHIDAE and CEPOLIDAE". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. v. 2.0. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
- Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2023). Species of Emmelichthys in FishBase. February 2023 version.
- Fricke, R., Golani, D. & Appelbaum-Golani, B. (2014): Emmelichthys marisrubri, a new rover from the southern Red Sea (Teleostei: Emmelichthyidae). Cybium 38(2): 83-87'.
- Martin F. Gomon. "Emmelichthys". Fishes of Australia. Museums Victoria. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
- "Genus: Emmelichthys, Red Rover, Rovers". Shorefishes of the Greater Caribbean online information system. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Retrieved 10 April 2023.