Ebosia

Ebosia
Ebosia bleekeri
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Scorpaenidae
Tribe: Pteroini
Genus: Ebosia
D. S. Jordan & Starks, 1904[1]
Type species
Pterois bleekeri

Ebosia is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. They are known as falcate lionfishes. They are native to the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Taxonomy

Ebosia was described as a genus in 1904 by the American ichthyologists David Starr Jordan and Edwin Chapin Starks in 1904 with Pterois bleekeri, which had been described in 1884 by Ludwig Heinrich Philipp Döderlein from Tokyo, as the type species.[1] This genus is classified within the tribe Pteroini of the subfamily Scorpaeninae within the family Scorpaenidae.[2] The genus name is a latinisation of eboshi, a type of helmet which bears some resemblance to the parietal crests shown by the males in this genus.[3]

Species

There are currently 4 recognized species in this genus:[4]

Image Scientific Name Common Name Distribution
Ebosia bleekeri (Döderlein, 1884) Bleeker's lionfish southern Japan to Hong Kong, Also from Australia, Taiwan, China and Korea
Ebosia falcata Eschmeyer & Rama Rao, 1978 Falcate lionfish Somalia, Pakistan and the west coast of India and off the Andaman Sea coast of Thailand.
Ebosia saya Matsunuma & Motomura, 2014[5] Saya lionfish Saya de Malha Bank
Ebosia vespertina Matsunuma & Motomura, 2015 [6] Western falcate lionfish Mozambique and the east coast of South Africa, Madagascar

Characteristics

Ebosia lionfishes are characterised by having the bases of the spines on the nuchal, parietal and coronal bones being continuous with the parietal spine being longer and, in males, creates a slender, bony crest.[5] These lionfishes vary in size from a maximum published standard length of 8.7 cm (3.4 in) in E. falcata to 22 cm (8.7 in) in E. bleekeri.[4]

Distribution and habitat

Ebosia lionfishes are found in the Indo-Pacific from the eastern coast of Africa between Somalia and South Africa across the Indian Ocean and eastwards into the Pacific Ocean as far as eastern Australia, north to Japan, Korea and China.[4] These fishes are found where there is a sandy or muddy substrates at depths of normally less than 100 m (330 ft).[6]

Biology

Ebosia lionfishes are, like other scorpionfishes, predatory. E. bleekeri is known to feed on small fishes and crustaceans.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Scorpaenbidae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  2. ^ 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. Archived from the original on 8 April 2019. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  3. ^ 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 2 March 2022.
  4. ^ a b c Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Ebosia". FishBase. February 2022 version.
  5. ^ a b Matsunuma, M. & Motomura, H. (2014). "A new species of scorpionfish, Ebosia saya (Scorpaenidae: Pteroinae), from the western Indian Ocean and notes on fresh coloration of Ebosia falcata". Ichthyological Research. 62 (3): 293–312.
  6. ^ a b Matsunuma, M. & Motomura, H. (2015). "A new species of scorpionfish, Ebosia vespertina (Scorpaenidae: Pteroinae), from the southwestern Indian Ocean". Ichthyological Research. 63 (1): 110–120.
  7. ^ Bob Goemans (2012). "Ebosia bleekeri (Doderlein, 1884) Bleeker's Lionfish". Saltcorner Fish Library. Bob Goemans. Retrieved 2 March 2022.