Bathymasteridae

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Superclassis/Classis: Actinopterygii
Classis/Subclassis: Actinopteri
Subclassis/Infraclassis: Neopterygii
Infraclassis: Teleostei
Megacohors: Osteoglossocephalai
Supercohors: Clupeocephala
Cohors: Euteleosteomorpha
Subcohors: Neoteleostei
Infracohors: Eurypterygia
Sectio: Ctenosquamata
Subsectio: Acanthomorphata
Divisio/Superordo: Acanthopterygii
Subdivisio: Percomorphaceae
Series: Eupercaria
Ordo: Perciformes
Subordo: Cottoidei
Infraordo: Zoarcales

Familia: Bathymasteridae
Genera (3): Bathymaster – Rathbunella – Ronquilus
Name

Bathymasteridae Jordan & Gilbert, 1883

based on Bathymasterinae Jordan & Gilbert, 1883

Type genus: Bathymaster Cope, 1873

Synonyms

Bathymasterinae Jordan & Gilbert, 1883

References

Jordan, D.S. & Gilbert, C.H. 1883. Synopsis of the fishes of North America. Bulletin of the United States National Museum 16: i–liv + 1–1018. Reference page.
Radchenko, O. A., 2015: The system of the suborder Zoarcoidei (Pisces, Perciformes) as inferred from molecular genetic data. Russian Journal of Genetics 51 (11): 1096-1112. DOI: 10.1134/S1022795415100130 Reference page.

Links

Bathymasteridae and its species in FishBase,
Froese, R. & Pauly, D. (eds.) 2024. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication, www.fishbase.org, version 02/2024.
Genera of Bathymasteridae (including synonyms) in Catalog of Fishes, Eschmeyer, W.N., Fricke, R. & van der Laan, R. (eds.) 2024. Catalog of Fishes electronic version.

Vernacular names
català: Batimastèrid
čeština: Ronkvilovití
Deutsch: Ronquils
English: Ronquils
lietuvių: Ramiojo vandenyno drakoniukės

Ronquils (sometimes spelt ronchils) is a small family marine ray-finned fish, the Bathymasteridae. These fishes are found only in Arctic and North Pacific waters. This family contains just seven species in three genera. The larger species are important to commercial fisheries as food fish. Ronquils are most closely related to the eelpouts and prowfish in the suborder Zoarcoidei of the order Scorpaeniformes.
Taxonomy

The Bathymasteridae was first proposed as a family in 1883 by the American ichthyologists David Starr Jordan and Charles Henry Gilbert.[1] The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies this family within the suborder Zoarcoidei, within the order Scorpaeniformes.[2] Other authorities classify this family in the infraorder Zoarcales within the suborder Cottoidei of the Perciformes because removing the Scorpaeniformes from the Perciformes renders that taxon non monophyletic.[3] The monophyly of the Zoarcoidei has still not been fully ascertained but it is generally accepted that the most basal family is Bathymasteridae.[2]
Etymology

The name ronquil is said to be an anglicization from the Spanish ronco, ronquillo being a diminutive, and which means “one who grunts”. The family name Bathymasteridae is derived from the type genus Bathymaster and this can be translated from the Greek to mean "deep searcher".[4]
Genera

The ronquil family is divided into three genera as follows:[5][4]

Bathymaster Cope, 1873
Rathbunella Jordan & Evermann, 1896
Ronquilus Jordan & Starks, 1895

Characteristics

Ronquils have elongate with long dorsal and anal fins which are even in height along all of their length. These fins are separated from the large, truncate to round caudal fin by a clear caudal peduncle. There are between 43 and 49 branched and unbranched rays in the dorsal fin while the anal fin contains between 31 and 36 rays. These ray counts include between 1 and 6 weak, pliant to the front of the dorsal fin and 1 or 2 similar spines in the front of the anal fin. The pectoral fins are large and rounded while the pelvic fins are located on the thorax, and have a single spine and 5 soft rays. There is a single pair of nostrils. The scales vary from weakly ctenoid, nearly smooth, to strongly ctenoid. There are sensory pores on the upper head of head and on the cheeks and these are obvious. The lateral line is clearly visible and runs on the upper body, straight to the rear of the dorsal fin, and has between 75 and 105 scales. The roof of the mouth has palatine and vomerine teeth. The bill membrane is separate from the isthmus, in most cases. There is no swim bladder. These fishes may be olive brown to dull red, bluish black, or purplish in their overall colour, they can be marked with bright green, blue, yellow, red, orange, and white bars, spots or other markings. The colour and patterns often vary between populations or be an expression of sexual dimorphism.[6] Ronquins vary in size from a total length of 20 cm (7.9 in) in Ronquilus jordani to more over 38 cm (15 in) for Bathymaster signatus.[5]
Distribution, habitat and behaviour

Ronqulis inhabit cold waters in the North Pacific where they have a wide range from Baja California to the Sea of Japan, ronquils are benthic animals, spending most of their time on or near the bottom.[6] These fishes are typically found in shallow coastal waters down to depths of around 200 m (660 ft), however, Bathymaster signatus has been taken from depths in excess of 300 m (980 ft) in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands.[7]

Ronquils feed primarily on small benthic crustaceans and mollusks, and the stomachs of some specimens sampled contained only nudibranch]s. Little is known about predators of ronqulis but it is presumed that most larger carnivores that occur in the same areas as them, especially predatory fishes, will prey on them.[8] Although considered fairly common, ronquils are rarely observed; this is likely owing to their secretive nature.[9]

Few specifics are recorded regarding ronquil spawning, but the males are known to guard the brood.[5] The males have been known to cannibalize some of the eggs they are guarding.[8]
See also

List of fish common names
List of fish families

References

Richard van der Laan; William N. Eschmeyer & Ronald Fricke (2014). "Family-group names of Recent fishes". Zootaxa. 3882 (2): 001–230. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1. PMID 25543675.
J. S. Nelson; T. C. Grande; M. V. H. Wilson (2016). Fishes of the World (5th ed.). Wiley. pp. 478–482. ISBN 978-1-118-34233-6.
Ricardo Betancur-R; Edward O. Wiley; Gloria Arratia; et al. (2017). "Phylogenetic classification of bony fishes". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 17 (162): 162. doi:10.1186/s12862-017-0958-3. PMC 5501477. PMID 28683774.
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 27 July 2022.
Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2022). "Bathymasteridae" in FishBase. February 2022 version.
Mecklenburg, C. W. (2003). "Family Bathymasteridae Jordan & Gilbert 1883 — ronquils" (PDF). California Academy of Sciences Annotated Checklists of Fishes No. 7. California Academy of Sciences.
Stevenson, Duane; Ann C. Matarese (2005). "The ronquils: a review of the North Pacific fish family Bathymasteridae (Actinopterygii: Perciformes: Zoarcoidei)". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 118 (2): 367–406. doi:10.2988/0006-324X(2005)118[367:TRAROT]2.0.CO;2. S2CID 85708727.
John E. Fitch; Robert J. Lavenberg (1975). Tidepool and Nearshore Fishes of California. University of California Press. pp. 25–26. ISBN 0520028457.
"Bathymasteridae". Burke Museum. Retrieved 27 July 2022.