• Source: Fowlerichthys

Fowlerichthys is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Antennariidae, the frogfishes. The fishes in this genus are found the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.




Taxonomy


Fowlerichthys was first proposed as a monospecific genus in 1941 by the American zoologist Thomas Barbour when he described Fowlerichthys floridanus which he also designated as its type species. F. floridanus is now considered to be a junior synonym of Antennarius radiosus described in 1896 by Samuel Garman with a type locality of Key West in Florida. Some authorities classify this genus in the subfamily Antennariinae within the family Antennariidae. However, the 5th edition of Fishes of the World does not recognise subfamilies within the Antennariidae, classifying the family within the suborder Antennarioidei within the order Lophiiformes, the anglerfishes.




Etymology


Fowlerichthys combines Fowler, honouring the American ichthyologist Henry Weed Fowler of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia who gave Barbour the type specimen of F. floridanus, with ichthys, which means fish.




Species


There are currently five recognized species in this genus:

Fowlerichthys avalonis D. S. Jordan & Starks, 1907 (Roughbar frogfish)
Fowlerichthys ocellatus Bloch & J. G. Schneider, 1801 (Ocellated frogfish)
Fowlerichthys radiosus Garman, 1896 (Singlespot frogfish)
Fowlerichthys scriptissimus D. S. Jordan, 1902 (Calico frogfish)
Fowlerichthys senegalensis Cadenat, 1959 (Senegalese frogfish)




Characteristics


Fowlerichthys frogfishes have globose rather compressed bodies covered in densely set bifurcated spinules with their eyes placed on the sides of the head. The upwardly pointing mouth has numerous small teeth. The illicium does not have a distinct esca, or lur and any spinules on the illicium are located at its base or along its front edge. The illicium is slight shorter than the second dorsal spine, this present. The rear margins of the dorsal and anal fin membranes have a membrane connecting them to the body on front of the caudal peduncle. The dorsal fin has between 12 and 14 soft rays, all typically having a single fork, with the anal fin having between 7 and 10 similar rays. These are large frogfishes, with the largest species being the ocellated frogfish (F. ocellatus) which has a maximum published total length of 38 cm (15 in) while the smallest is the singlespot frogfsih (Fowlerichthys radiosus) which has a maximum length of 25 cm (9.8 in).




Distribution and habitat


Fowlerichthys frogfishes are found in the warmer waters of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans with two species, F. ocellatus and F. radiosus, in the Western Atlantic Ocean, one, F. senegalensis in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean, one F. scriptissimus, in the Indo-West Pacific and one in the Eastern Pacific, F. avalonis. These fishes are typically found in rocky and reef habitats, frequently in the intertidal zone, sometimes on sandy and muddy bottoms and one species F. radiosus, on offshore banks and the deeper waters of the continental shelf.




References

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Fowlerichthys
• Fowlerichthys scriptissimus
• Fowlerichthys avalonis
• Fowlerichthys radiosus
• Fowlerichthys senegalensis
• Ocellated frogfish
• Frogfish
• List of fishes of Florida
• List of least concern fishes
• Antennarius pauciradiatus