Stichaeopsis

Stichaeopsis
Stichaeopsis nana
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Stichaeidae
Subfamily:	Stichaeinae
Genus:	Stichaeopsis Kner, 1870
Type species
Stichaeopsis nana Kner, 1870[1]
Synonyms[1]
Ozorthe Jordan & Evermann, 1898

Stichaeopsis is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Stichaeidae, the pricklebacks or shannies. These fishes are found in the western North Pacific Ocean.

Taxonomy

Stichaeopsis was first proposed as a monospecific genus in 1870 by the Austrian ichthyologist Rudolf Kner with Stichaeopsis nana, which was described as a new species by Kner from Decastris Bay on the Tatar Strait in the northern Sea of Japan, as its only species.[1][2] This genus is classified within the subfamily Stichaeinae of the Zoarcoid family Stichaeidae.[3]

Species

Stichaeopsis contains three extant and one known extinct species, as follows:[4][5]

• Stichaeopsis epallax (Jordan & Snyder, 1902)
• Stichaeopsis nana Kner, 1870
• Stichaeopsis nevelskoi (Schmidt, 1904)
• †Stichaeopsis sakhalinensis Nazarkin, 1998

† means extinct

Etymology

Stichaeopsis means "having the appearance of Stichaeus, by which Kner is thought to have meant that the type species S. nana was similar in appearance to Stichaeus species.[6]

Characteristics

Stichaeopsis fishes have moderately elongated bodies which has strong lateral compression and has no scales. The jaws are equal in length and have pointed teeth in them but there are no teeth on the roof of the mouth. There are no soft rays, only spines in the dorsal fin, all but the forwardmost being rigid. The pelvic fins have their insertion in front of the pectoral fins. They have three lateral lines.[7] The largest published maximum standard length is in S. epallax which has attained 30 cm (12 in).[4]

Distribution and habitat

Stichaeopsis species are found in the northwest Pacific Ocean in the Sea of Japan, Sea of Okhtosk, Strait of Tartary, off Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands.[2] They are demersal fishes found on varies substrates in shallow coastal waters dow to 200 m (660 ft).[8][9]

References

1. Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Stichaeinae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
2. Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Stichaeopsis". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
3. Mecklenburg, C. W. and B. A. Sheiko (2004). "Family Stichaeidae Gill 1864 — pricklebacks" (PDF). California Academy of Sciences Annotated Checklists of Fishes. 35.
4. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Stichaeopsis". FishBase. February 2022 version.
5. Mikhail Valerievich Nazarkin (1998). "New Stichaeid Fishes (Stichaeidae, Perciformes) from Miocene of Sakhalin". Journal of Ichthyology. 38 (4): 279–291.
6. Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara, eds. (4 July 2021). "Order Perciformes (Part 11): Suborder Cottoidea: Infraorder Zoarcales: Families: Anarhichadidae, Neozoarcidae, Eulophias, Stichaeidae, Lumpenidae, Ophistocentridae, Pholidae, Ptilichthyidae, Zaproridae, Cryptacanthodidae, Cebidichthyidae, Scytalinidae and Bathymasteridae". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
7. G.U. Lindberg (2020). Fishes of the Sea of Japan and the Adjacent Areas of the Sea of Okhotsk and the Yellow Sea Part 4. CRC Press. pp. 70–77. ISBN 978-1000123708.
8. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Stichaeopsis epallax". FishBase. June 2022 version.
9. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Stichaeopsis nana". FishBase. June 2022 version.