Alert pigfish

The Alert pigfish (Alertichthys blacki) is a species of marine ray finned fish, a pigfish belonging to the family Congiopodidae. It is the only species in the monotypic genus Alertichthys. This species is endemic to the waters around New Zealand.

Alert pigfish
specimen in the fish collection of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Scorpaeniformes
Family: Congiopodidae
Genus: Alertichthys
Moreland, 1960
Species:
A. blacki
Binomial name
Alertichthys blacki
Moreland, 1960

Taxonomy

The Alert pigfish was first formally described in 1960 by the New Zealand ichthyologist John Munne Moreland with they type locality given as east of the Otago Peninsula at 45°47'S, 171°7'E. Moreland placed his new species in the monotypic genus Alertichthys.[1] The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies Alertichthys within the family Congiopodidae but other authorities classify this genus and Zanclorhynchus within the family Zanclorhynchidae.[2] These fishes are classified within the subfamily Scorpaenoidei within the order Scorpaeniformes. in the Fishes of the World[2] but other authorities place the Scorpaenoidei within the Perciformes.[3] The genus name is a combination of Alert, the name of the research vessel the holotype was collected on, and ichthys, Greek for "fish", while the specific name honours Alex J. Black of Dunedin, the owner and captain of the M/V Alert.[4]

Description

The Alert pigfish has a relatively long snout with a small terminal mouth. The body has rough, leathery skin with no no scales. The continuous dorsal fin is long based. The 2 anal fin spines are absent in the sympatric Congiopodus species. The maximum total length is 20 cm (7.9 in). The overall colour is silvery grey, paler on the lower body and with a dark forward margin to the pectoral fins.[5]

Distribution and habitat

The Alert pigfish is known only from the waters of southern and central New Zealand as far north as the Chatham Rise. It is a demersal fish which lives at depths between 100 and 600 m (330 and 1,970 ft).[5]

References
  1. Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Alertichthys". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
  2. J. S. Nelson; T. C. Grande; M. V. H. Wilson (2016). Fishes of the World (5th ed.). Wiley. p. 475. ISBN 978-1-118-34233-6. Archived from the original on 2019-04-08. Retrieved 2022-05-19.
  3. Ricardo Betancur-R; Edward O. Wiley; Gloria Arratia; et al. (2017). "Phylogenetic classification of bony fishes". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 17 (162): 162. doi:10.1186/s12862-017-0958-3. PMC 5501477. PMID 28683774.
  4. Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara, eds. (10 March 2022). "Order Perciformes (Part 10): Suborder Scorpaenoidei: Families Apistidae, Tetrarogidae, Synanceiidae, Aploacrinidae, Perryenidae, Eschmeyeridae, Pataecidae, Gnathanacanthidae, Congiopodidae and Zanclorhynchidae". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
  5. McMillan, P.J.; Francis, M.P.; James, G.D.; et al. (2011). New Zealand fishes. Volume 1: A field guide to common species caught by bottom and midwater fishing. New Zealand Aquatic Environment and Biodiversity Report. Ministry of Fisheries. pp. 198–200. ISSN 1176-9440.
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