Umbrina is a genus of fish from the croaker family Sciaenidae. The genus contains 17 species occurring in tropical and warm temperate waters of the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the Western Indian Ocean and the eastern Pacific.
Taxonomy
Umbrina was first proposed as a genus in 1817 by the French zoologist Georges Cuvier as a monospecific genus with its only species being Sciaena cirrosa.[4]S. cirrosa had been described by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of the Systema Naturae published in 1758 and its type locality was given as the Mediterranean Sea and eastern Atlantic.[5] Some workers have placed this genus in the subfamily Sciaeninae.[6] However, the 5th edition of Fishes of the World does not recognise tribes or subfamilies within the Sciaenidae which it places in the orderAcanthuriformes.[7]
Etymology
The name of the genus, Umbrina, is a diminutive of umbra meaning "shade", this was a name used by early naturalists for drums and croakers, in a similar way to scion or Sciaena.[8]
Species
Currently, 17 species are recognized in the genus:[1]
The species of the genus Umbrina are elongated, laterally compressed fishes with a rounded belly. The head is lower than the relatively high back. The mouth is small and set below the midline with a short, there is a short, stocky barbel on the chin with a pore at the end and two pores om wither side of the base. The eye is medium-sized and the diameter is a quarter of the length of the head. The teeth sit in two rows per jaw, of which the outer is larger in the upper jaw. The edge of the scales are finely serrated. The body is dark brown or silver-colored and has opaque stripes or vertical bars. The first dorsal fin is short and has ten thin hard rays. The second, long spine has 25 to 30 soft rays. The small anal fin has two hard and five to eight soft rays.[9][10]
^N. L. Chao (2002). "Sciaenidae Croakers (Drums)". In Carpenter, K.E. (ed.). The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 3. Bony fishes part 2 (Ophistognathidae to Molidae) sea turtles and marine mammals. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN92-5-104827-4.
^"Umbrina". Discover Life. Retrieved 26 December 2016.