Pterois russelii

Pterois russelii, the largetail turkeyfish, plaintail firefish, plaintail turkeyfish, Russell's firefish, Russell's lionfish, spotless butterfly-cod or the spotless firefish, is a species of ray-finned fish with venomous spines belonging to the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes and lionfishes. It is native to the Indo-Pacific Ocean from the eastern part of Africa to the Persian Gulf.

Pterois russelii
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Scorpaeniformes
Family: Scorpaenidae
Genus: Pterois
Species:
P. russelii
Binomial name
Pterois russelii
Synonyms[2][3]
  • Pterois geniserra Cuvier, 1829
  • Pterois kodipungi Bleeker, 1852
  • Pseudomonopterus kodipungi (Bleeker, 1852)

Taxonomy

Pterois russelii was first formally described in 1831 by the English naturalist Edward Turner Bennett with the type locality given as Coromandel Coast in India.[4] Molecular studies, and some morphological data too, have indicated that this species and the luna lionfish (P. lunulata) are the same species, P. russelii.[5] The specific name honours the Scottish surgeon and herpetologist Patrick Russell , who had illustrated and described, without naming, this species in 1803. Bennett, misspelt Russell's name by leaving out the final l, as Cuvier and Valenciennes did on a consistent basis.[6]

Description

Pterois russelii has 13 spines and between 10 and 12 soft rays in its dorsal fin and 3 spines and 7 or 8 soft rays in its anal fin.[3] It has a whitish body striped vertically with reddish brown.[7] This species has no rows of small dark spots on the soft dorsal, anal and caudal fins which are a feature of related species, and it has comparatively short dorsal-fin spines.[8] The maximum published standard length of Russell's lionfish is 30 cm (12 in).[3]

Distribution and habitat

Pterois russelii has a wide Indo-Pacific distribution from the coast of eastern Africa as far south as South Africa. It then occurs from Oman east to Japan and Australia.[1] It has been recorded in the Red Sea but this was only confirmed in 2016.[9] In Australian waters Russell's lionfish is found from the Exmouth Gulf in Western Australia around the northern tropical coasts to the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland.[8] It occurs at depths of 15 to 60 m (49 to 197 ft),[3] where it is found in areas of muddy substrate in shletered shallow estuaries, bays and coastal waters down to deeper waters in quiet offshore reefs.[8]

Biology

Pterois russelii is a solitary species which has venom bearing spines.[3] It feeds on smaller fishes, crabs and shrimp.[7]

Utilisation

Pterois russelii is infrequently found in the aquarium trade.[7]

References
  1. Motomura, H. & Matsuura, K. (2016). "Pterois russelii". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T50903260A54145434. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T50903260A54145434.en. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  2. Allen, Gerald R.; Erdmann, Mark V. (23 January 2008). "Pterois andover, a new species of scorpionfish (Pisces: Scorpaenidae) from Indonesia and Papua New Guinea" (PDF). Aqua, International Journal of Ichthyology. Special Publication. 13 (3–4): 137. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 October 2014. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  3. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2022). "Pterois russelii" in FishBase. February 2022 version.
  4. Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Pterois". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  5. Christie L Wilcox; Hiroyuki Motomura; Mizuki Matsunuma; Brian W Bowen (2018). "Phylogeography of Lionfishes (Pterois) Indicate Taxonomic Over Splitting and Hybrid Origin of the Invasive Pterois volitans". Journal of Heredity. 109 (2): 162–175. doi:10.1093/jhered/esx056.
  6. 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 11 March 2022.
  7. Bob Goemans (2012). "Pterois russelii". Saltcorner Fish Library. Bob Goemans. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  8. Bray, D.J. (2017). "Pterois russelii". Fishes of Australia. Museums Victoria. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  9. Matsunuma, Mizuki; Bogorodsky, Sergey; Motomura, Hiroyuki & Mal, Ahmad (2016). "Objective record of Pterois russelii (Scorpaenidae: Pteroinae) from the Red Sea". Cybium: international journal of ichthyology. 40: 333–337.
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