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Mephisto
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Tetraodontiformes
Family:	Triacanthodidae
Subfamily:	Triacanthodinae
Genus:	Mephisto; Tyler, 1966
Type species
	Mephisto fraserbrunneri; Tyler 1966

Mephisto is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Triacanthodidae, the spikefishes. These fishes are found in the Indian Ocean.

Taxonomy

Mephisto was first proposed as a monospecific genus in 1966 by the American ichthyologist James C. Tyler when he described Mephisto fraserbrunneri, which he designated as the type species.^[1] When he described M. fraserbrunneri Tyler gave its type locality as the Bay of Bengal at 10°39'N, 97°06'E from a depth of 159 fathoms (954 ft; 291 m).^[2] In 1968 James C. Tyler classified this genus in the nominate subfamily of the family Triacanthodidae, the Triacanthodinae.^[3] The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies the family Triacanthodidae in the suborder Triacanthoidei in the order Tetraodontiformes.^[4]

Etymology

Mephisto is the name of a demon, the Mephistopheles of the Faustian tales of German folklore. This name refres to the reddish exterior, black interior and horn-like spikes of the type species.^[5]

Species

Mephisto contains two recognised species:^[1]

Mephisto albomaculosus Matsuura, Psomadakis & Tun, 2018
Mephisto fraserbrunneri Tyler, 1966

Description

Mephisto spikefishes have six spines in the dorsal fin, these gradually decrease in size from the front to the rear but the rearmost spine is still clearly visible. They have a snout which is shorter than the length of the remainder of the head and which is nearly equal to the between the eye and the upper end of the gill slit. They have a single row of large and conical teeth in each jaw.^[6] These fishes have the longest gill slts of their family, the lower margin of the slit reaches slightly below the lower margin of the lobe at the base of the pectoral fin.^[7] M. albomaculosus is knowm from its holotype which had a standard length of 94.4 mm (3.72 in),^[8] while M. fraserbrunneri has a maximum published standard length of 105.8 mm (4.17 in).^[7]

Distribution and habitat

Mephisto spikefishes have been recorded from the Indian Ocean from off Somalia east to off Myanmar at depths between 74 and 446 m (243 and 1,463 ft).^[7]

References

^ ^a ^b Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Triacanthodidae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
^ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Mephisto". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
^ Franceso Santini; James C. Tyler (2003). "A phylogeny of the families of fossil and extant tetraodontiform fishes (Acanthomorpha, Tetraodontiformes), Upper Cretaceous to Recent". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 139 (4): 565–617. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2003.00088.x.
^ Nelson, J.S.; Grande, T.C.; Wilson, M.V.H. (2016). Fishes of the World (5th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 518–526. doi:10.1002/9781119174844. ISBN 978-1-118-34233-6. LCCN 2015037522. OCLC 951899884. OL 25909650M.
^ Christopher Scharpf (27 August 2024). "Order TETRAODONTIFORMES: Families TRIODONTIDAE, TRIACANTHIDAE, TRIACANTHODIDAE, DIODONTIDAE and TETRAODONTIDAE". Christopher Scharpf. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
^ Keiichi Matsuura (2022). "Tetraodontiformes". In Phillip C. Heemstra; Elaine Heemstra; David E. Ebert; Wouter Holleman; John E. Randall (eds.). Coastal Fishes of the Western Indian Ocean (PDF). pp. 406–485.
^ ^a ^b ^c Katherine E. Bemis; James C. Tyler; Peter N. Psomadakis; Laren Newell Ferriss & Appukuttannair Biju Kumar (2020). "Review of the Indian Ocean spikefish genus Mephisto (Tetraodontiformes:Triacanthodidae)". Zootaxa. 4802 (1): 082–098. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4802.1.5.
^ Keiichi Matsuura; Peter N. Psomadakis & Mya Than Thun (2018). "Mephisto albomaculosus, a new spikefish (Actinopterygii: Tetraodontiformes: Triacanthodidae) collected off Myanmar, Indian Ocean". Ichthyological Research. 66 (1): 30–33. doi:10.1007/s10228-018-0642-7.