The FrenchnaturalistPhilibert Commerson provided the first description of this fish from Réunion in the western Indian Ocean, but it was not published in a format allowing full citation. Therefore, the species name and description by Bernard Germain de Lacépède (who acknowledged Commerson) takes precedence, albeit with a nod to Commerson.[3] With no original or subsequent illustrations or specimens denoted as types, Fricke nominated a neotype in 1999 but subsequently withdrew it.[4]
Etymology
This species has on occasion been mistakenly considered a junior synonym of the similar species Ostorhinchus fleurieu, but is generally acknowledged as separate; it had the junior species synonym roseipinnis applied by Georges Cuvier in 1829.[5]
Lacépède coined the genusOstorhinchus in 1802[6] to which O. aureus was eventually assigned,[7] although he originally placed it in the genus Centropomus which is now placed in a different fish family, Centropomidae.
Description
This fish is coppery-coloured with a broad blackish bar at the base of the tail, up to 14.5 cm in length. The upper jaw has a narrow blue streak, and a broad blackish stripe extends from the front of the snout to the eye. Easily confused with Ostorhinchus fleurieu,[8] where the black tail bar does not narrow in the centre, but unlike this species, the stripe is also present in juveniles.
Internally, O. aureus is one of a large group of nocturnal feeding fishes which has a black pigmented gut lining, apparently to hide the glow of bioluminescentprey from its own piscivores in turn.[9] The eyes of O. aureus allow the transmission of ultraviolet light,[10] which if it is proven to be able to see, could benefit its nocturnal foraging.
Meristics
Using a shorthand meristics formula, O. aureus can be described as having:
Ostorhinchus aureus inhabits holes in rocks or under ledges in shallow waters. It is known to occur in mixed aggregates with Ostorhinchus apogonoides during summer and autumn, but form separate aggregates in winter and spring.[citation needed]
Settlement
Whereas coral reef fish settlement tends to be dominated by larval recruitment, in at least part of Australia'sGreat Barrier Reef, recruitment of O. aureus at any given coral reef patch tends to be by adult and juvenile migration across intervening sand and coral debris.[12]
^Randall, J. E. (2005) Reef and shore fishes of the South Pacific. New Caledonia to Tahiti and the Pitcairn Islands University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu. i-xii + 1-707.
^Lieske, E. and Myers, R.F. (2004) Coral reef guide; Red Sea London, HarperCollins ISBN0-00-715986-2
^Heiniger, H., and R. D. Adlard (2014). "Relatedness of novel species of Myxidium Butschli, 1882, Zschokkella Auerbach, 1910 and Ellipsomyxa Køie, 2003 (Myxosporea: Bivalvulida) from the gall ladders of marine fishes (Teleostei) from Australian waters". Systematic Parasitology. 87 (1): 47–72. doi:10.1007/s11230-013-9454-3. PMID24395575. S2CID15837067.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Heiniger, H., Cribb T. H., and R. D. Adlard (2013). "Intra-specific variation of Kudoa spp. (Myxosporea: Multivalvulida) from apogonid fishes (Perciformes), including the description of two new species, K. cheilodipteri n. sp. and K. cookii n. sp., from Australian waters". Systematic Parasitology. 84 (3): 193–215. doi:10.1007/s11230-012-9400-9. PMID23404757. S2CID10556733.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Kochzius, M. (1997). "Interrelation of ichthyofauna from a seagrass meadow and coral reef in the Philippines". Proceedings of the 5th Indo-Pacific Fisheries Conference, Nouméa. pp. 517–535.
^Yoshida, T., S. Harazaki, and H. Motomura (2010). "Apogonid fishes (Teleostei: Perciformes) of Yaku-shima Island, Kagoshima Prefecture, southern Japan". In Motomura, H., and K. Matsuura (ed.). Fishes of Yaku-shima Island(PDF). National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo. pp. 517–535.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
