Dendrochirus

Dendrochirus is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. They are mostly known as turkeyfishes or pygmy lionfishes. They are native to the Indian and Pacific Oceans. They are also popular aquarium fish.

Dendrochirus
Twospot turkeyfish (D. biocellatus)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Scorpaeniformes
Family: Scorpaenidae
Tribe: Pteroini
Genus: Dendrochirus
Swainson, 1839
Type species
Pterois zebra
Synonyms[1]
  • Brachirus Swainson, 1838
  • Brachyrus Swainson, 1839
  • Nemapterois Fowler, 1938

Taxonomy

Dendrochirus was described as a genus in 1839 by the English naturalist William John Swainson. Swainson also named the genera Brachirus and Brachyrus in the same work but in later pages. In 1876 Pieter Bleeker revised the genus and chose Dendrochirus as the name for the genus. In 1882 Joseph Swain designated Pterois zebra, described by Georges Cuvier from Mauritius in 1829, as the type species of Brachyrus which he considered to be a synonym of Pterois.[1][2] This genus is classified within the tribe Pteroini of the subfamily Scorpaeninae within the family Scorpaenidae.[3] Some authorities divide the genus into two subgenera, the subgenus Dendrochirus containing all the species except D. biocellatus which is in the monotypic subgenus Nemapterois which was created by Henry Weed Fowler in 1938.[4][1] This genus and the genus Petrois are closely related and it has been suggested that they form a single genus, Pterois.[5] The genus name is a compound of dendro, meaning “tree”, and cheirus, which means “hand”, originally this genus was considered to be a subgenus of Pterois with branched rays in the pectoral fin.[4]

Species

Eight species are recognized in this genus:[6][7]

ImageScientific nameCommon nameDistribution
Dendrochirus barberi (Steindachner, 1900)Hawaiian lionfishEastern Central Pacific.
Dendrochirus bellus (D. S. Jordan & C. L. Hubbs, 1925)Bricked firefishSouth China Sea north to the Boso Peninsula, Pacific coast of central Japan
Dendrochirus biocellatus (Fowler, 1938)Twospot turkeyfishIndo-West Pacific
Dendrochirus brachypterus (G. Cuvier, 1829)Shortfin turkeyfishIndo-West Pacific, Red Sea
Dendrochirus hemprichi Matsunuma, Motomura & Bogorodsky, 2017Red Sea dwarf lionfishWestern Indian Ocean
Dendrochirus koyo Matsunuma & Motomura, 2019Osagawara dwarf lionfishJapan
Dendrochirus tuamotuensis Matsunuma & Motomura, 2013[7]Tuamotu's dwarf lionfishthe Tuamotu Archipelago, South Pacific Ocean.
Dendrochirus zebra (G. Cuvier, 1829)Zebra turkeyfishIndo-West Pacific, including the Red Sea

Characteristics

Dendrochirus lionfishes are characterised by typically having 13 spines and 9 or 10 soft rays in the dorsal fin and 3 spines and 5 or 6 soft rays in the anal fin. The spines on the parietal bon are not high and the lower jaw has no ridges, spines or scales. There are between 17 and 19 fin rays in the pectoral fins and the middle fin rays are branched.[8] These fishes vary in length from a standard length of 4.5 cm (1.8 in) in the Ogasawara dwarf-lionfish (D. koyo) to 25 cm (9.8 in) in the zebra turkeyfish (D. zebra).[6]

Distribution and habitat

Dendrochirus lionfishes are found in the Indo-Pacific from the Red Sea and the western Indian Ocean to Hawaii and Johnston Atoll.They tend to be associated with hard substrates such as coral rocks and rubble.[6]

Utilisation

Dendrochirus lionfishes are popular species in the aquarium hobby.[9]

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dendrochirus.
  1. Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Scorpaenidae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  2. Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Dendrochirus". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
  3. J. S. Nelson; T. C. Grande; M. V. H. Wilson (2016). Fishes of the World (5th ed.). Wiley. pp. 468–475. ISBN 978-1-118-34233-6.
  4. Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara, eds. (2 October 2021). "Order Perciformes (Part 9): Suborder Scorpaenoidei: Family Scorpaenidae". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  5. Kochzius, Marc; Soeller, Rainer; Khalaf, Maroof & Blohm, Dietmar (2003). "Molecular phylogeny of the lionfish genera Dendrochirus and Pterois (Scorpaenidae, Pteroinae) based on mitochondrial DNA sequences" (PDF). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 28 (3): 396–403. doi:10.1016/S1055-7903(02)00444-X. PMID 12927126.
  6. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2021). Species of Dendrochirus in FishBase. August 2021 version.
  7. Matsunuma, M. & Motomura, H. (2013): A new lionfish of the genus Dendrochirus (Scorpaenidae: Pteroinae) from the Tuamotu Archipelago, South Pacific Ocean. Species Diversity, 18 (1): 1-7.
  8. Matsunuma, M.; H. Motomura; and S. V. Bogorodsky (2017). "Review of Indo-Pacific dwarf lionfishes (Scorpaenidae: Pteroinae) in the Dendrochirus brachypterus complex, with description of a new species from the western Indian Ocean". Ichthyological Research. 64 (4): 369–414. doi:10.1007/s10228-017-0583-6. S2CID 3234196.
  9. "Dwarf Lionfish Care Guide: Dendrochirus spp". Salt Water Aquarium Blog. 6 July 2021. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
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