Phantom cardinalfish
Lachneratus phasmaticus, also known as the phantom cardinalfish, is a species of fish in the family Apogonidae, the cardinalfishes. It is the only member of its genus.[1] It is native to the tropical eastern Pacific and Indian Oceans.[2] This fish can be found in crevices and underwater caves, and it occurs at depths of 3 to 104 m. It grows to a standard length of 7.4 cm (2.9 in).[2]
| Phantom cardinalfish | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Kurtiformes |
| Family: | Apogonidae |
| Genus: | Lachneratus |
| Species: | L. phasmaticus |
| Binomial name | |
| Lachneratus phasmaticus T. H. Fraser & Struhsaker, 1991 | |
This species was discovered when "an unusual cardinalfish was taken in a trawl off of Hawaii" around 1969.[3] It was later collected off of Fiji. It was described to science in 1991 and placed in a new genus.[3]
Etymology
The name of the genus honors the American ichthyologist Ernest A. Lachner (1915–1996), who was curator emeritus at the United States National Museum in recognition of his contributions to the systematics of the Indo-Pacific cardinalfishes.[4]
References
- Mabuchi, K., Fraser, T.H., Song, H., Azuma, Y. & Nishida, M. (2014): Revision of the systematics of the cardinalfishes (Percomorpha: Apogonidae) based on molecular analyses and comparative reevaluation of morphological characters. Zootaxa, 3846 (2): 151–203.
- Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2015). "Lachneratus phasmaticus" in FishBase. August 2015 version.
- Fraser, T.H. & Struhsaker, P.J. (1991): A new genus and species of cardinalfish (Apogonidae) from the Indo-West Pacific, with a key to apogonine genera. Copeia, 1991 (3): 718-22.
- Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara (31 May 2018). "Order KURTIFORMES (Nurseryfishes and Cardinalfishes)". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 21 September 2018.