Eques (fish)

Eques is a small genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Sciaenidae, the drums and croakers. These fishes are found in the Western Atlantic Ocean.

Eques
Jack-knifefish (Eques lanceolatus)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Acanthuriformes
Family: Sciaenidae
Genus: Eques
Bloch, 1793
Type species
Eques americanus
Bloch, 1793
Synonyms[1]

Taxonomy

Eques was first proposed as a monospecific genus in 1793 by the German physician and naturalist Marcus Elieser Bloch with its type species Eques americanus,[1] which Bloch was describing as a new species from the Western Atlantic.[2] In 1815 Constantine Samuel Rafinesque proposed the new name Equetus for the genus as Eques had been used for a subgenus of Lepidoptera by Linnaeus but Linnaeus's name has been deemed to be invalid under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature so Rafinesque's replacement name was not needed.[3] This genus has been placed in the subfamily Sciaeninae by some workers,[4] but the 5th edition of Fishes of the World does not recognise subfamilies within the Sciaenidae which it places in the order Acanthuriformes.[5]

Species

Eques contains two valid species:[2]

Characteristics

Eques drums have an oblong body that is deep anteriorly and tapers towards the caudal peduncle. The snout protrudes over the horizontal mouth. There are 5 pores and no barbels on the chin. The preoperculum has weak serrations along its edge and the upper angle of the operculum is incised. They have a long-based dorsal fin which is deeply incised, the incision separates the spiny portion from the soft rayed portion of the fin. The spiny portion of the dorsal fin is very high with the spines being longer than the head and the soft rayed part is supported by more than 45 rays. The anal fin is short-based with 2 spines, the second spine being robust, and 6 soft rays. The lateral line extends to the centre of the caudal fin. Theare are wide oblique black bars on the body.[6] The two species in the genus are similar in size with maximum published total lengths of 25 cm (9.8 in) for E. lanceolatus[7] and 25 cm (9.8 in) for E. punctatus.[8]

Distribution and habitat

Eques drums are found in the Western Atlantic Ocean from Bermuda and North Carolina south to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. They are found in asscociation with reefs at depths between 10 and 60 m (33 and 197 ft).[7][8]

References
  1. Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Sciaenidae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  2. Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Eques". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  3. Paolo Parenti (2020). "An annotated checklist of fishes of the family Sciaenidae". Journal of Animal Diversity. 2 (1): 1–92. doi:10.29252/JAD.2020.2.1.1.
  4. Kunio Sasaki (1989). "Phylogeny of the family Sciaenidae, with notes on its Zoogeography (Teleostei, Peciformes)" (PDF). Memoirs of the Faculty of Fishes Hokkaido University. 36 (1–2): 1–137.
  5. J. S. Nelson; T. C. Grande; M. V. H. Wilson (2016). Fishes of the World (5th ed.). Wiley. pp. 497–502. ISBN 978-1-118-34233-6.
  6. "Genus: Equetus, Drum Croaker, Drums, Jacknifes". Shorefishes of the Greater Caribbean online information system. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  7. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2023). "Eques lanceolatus" in FishBase. February 2023 version.
  8. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2023). "Equetus punctatus" in FishBase. February 2023 version.
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