Branchiostegus

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: Percoidei
Superfamilia: Percoidea

Familia: Malacanthidae
Subfamilia: Malacanthinae
Genus: Branchiostegus
Species: B. albus – B. argentatus – B. auratus – B. australiensis – B. biendong – B. doliatus – B. gloerfelti – B. hedlandensis – B. ilocanus – B. japonicus – B. okinawaensis – B. paxtoni – B. saitoi – B. sawakinensis – B. semifasciatus – B. serratus – B. vittatus – B. wardi
Name

Branchiostegus Rafinesque, 1815: 86

Type species: Coryphaenoides hottuynii ♂ Lacepède, 1801 (= Coryphaena japonica Houttuyn, 1782).
Synonyms

Coryphaena Houttuyn, 1782: 315
Coryphaenoides Lacepède, 1801: 219, 220
Latilus Cuvier in Cuvier & Valenciennes 1830: 368

References

Rafinesque, C.S. 1815. Analyse de la nature, ou tableau de l'univers et des corps organisés. Palerme: L'Imprimerie de Jean Barravecchia. 224 pp. BHL Reference page.
Dooley, J.K. & P.J. Kailola 1988: Four new tilefishes from the northeastern Indian Ocean, with a review of the genus Branchiostegus. Japanese Journal of Ichthyology, 35(3): 247–260.
Hiramatsu, W., Vinh, C.T. & Endo, H. 2019. Branchiostegus biendong, a new tilefish from Vietnam (Perciformes: Branchiostegidae). Zootaxa 4661(1): 133–144. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4661.1.6 Paywall Reference page.

Taxon identifiers

Wikidata: Q1435304 AFD: Branchiostegus BOLD: 3812 CoL: 3CT6 Fossilworks: 35969 GBIF: 2389887 iNaturalist: 49981 IRMNG: 1104940 NCBI: 270561 WoRMS: 203867

Vernacular names
English: Tilefish

Branchiostegus is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes, tilefishes belonging to the family Malacanthidae. They are found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean through the Indian Ocean to the western Pacific Ocean.[3] Here they create burrows in soft substrates in the comparatively deep waters of the continental shelf and slope.[4]
Characteristics

Branchiostegus tilefishes have a rectangular body shape with a square profile to the head. They have a raised seam situated to the anterior of the dorsal fin, this can be reduced but it is always there. They have a body which is around four times as long as it is deep. There are fine serrations on the preopercular upper arm while its lower arm has very few or no serrations and there is no spine at its angle. The operculum has a single flexible, blunt spine. The mouth is slightly angled and extend to the front of the eye. The dorsal and anal fins are long and unbroken. The dorsal fin has 6 to 8 spines, typically 7 and 14 to 16, normally 15, soft rays. The anal fin contains 2 spines and 11 to 13, typically 12, soft rays. The caudal fin is rounded, truncate, or double emarginate and sometimes has elongated tips. They have pelagic larvae which have many spines on their heads and serrated ridges.[5]
Species

There are currently 18 recognized species in this genus:[3]

Branchiostegus albus Dooley, 1978
Branchiostegus argentatus (G. Cuvier, 1830)
Branchiostegus auratus (Kishinouye, 1907)
Branchiostegus australiensis Dooley & Kailola, 1988 (Australian tilefish)
Branchiostegus biendong Hiramatsu, Vinh, Endo, 2019[6]
Branchiostegus doliatus (G. Cuvier, 1830) (Ribbed tilefish)
Branchiostegus gloerfelti Dooley & Kailola, 1988
Branchiostegus hedlandensis Dooley & Kailola, 1988 (Port Hedland tilefish)
Branchiostegus ilocanus Herre, 1928
Branchiostegus japonicus (Houttuyn, 1782) (Horsehead tilefish)
Branchiostegus okinawensis Hiramatsu & Yoshino, 2012[7]
Branchiostegus paxtoni Dooley & Kailola, 1988 (Paxton's tilefish)
Branchiostegus saitoi Dooley & Iwatsuki, 2012
Branchiostegus sawakinensis Amirthalingam, 1969 (Freckled tilefish)
Branchiostegus semifasciatus (Norman, 1931) (Zebra tilefish)
Branchiostegus serratus Dooley & Paxton, 1975 (Australian barred tilefish)
Branchiostegus vittatus Herre, 1926
Branchiostegus wardi Whitley, 1932 (Ward's tilefish)

Systematics

Branchiostegus was created by the French naturalist Constantine Samuel Rafinesque (1783-1840) in 1815, with Lacépède's Coryphaenoides hottuynii (now recognised as a synonym of Branchiostegus japonicus) as its type species.[2] The genus name is a compound of branchios meaning "gill" and stegos meaning "cover". Rafinesque put this name forward without explanation but he placed the genus in a subfamily of Lophionota, an unavailable name for a grouping which approximates to the currently recognised Coryphaenidae, in which he put dolphinfishes, sailfishes and many other marine fishes and which were distinguished by the possession of branchiostegal membranes.[1] The genus is currently placed in the subfamily Latilinae.[8]
References

Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara (18 September 2020). "Series EUPERCARIA (Incertae sedis): Families CALLANTHIIDAE, CENTROGENYIDAE, DINOLESTIDAE, DINOPERCIDAE, EMMELICHTHYIDAE, MALACANTHIDAE, MONODACTYLIDAE, MORONIDAE, PARASCORPIDIDAE, SCIAENIDAE and SILLAGINIDAE". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Malacanthidae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2013). Species of Branchiostegus in FishBase. December 2013 version.
Dianne J. Bray. "Branchiostegus". Fishes of Australia. Museums Victoria. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
J.K. Dooley. "Branchiostegidae" (PDF). FAO. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
Wataru Hiramatsu; Chu Tien Vinh; Hiromitsu Endo (2019). "Branchiostegus biendong, a New Tilefish from Vietnam (Perciformes: Branchiostegidae)". Zootaxa. 4661 (1): zootaxa.4661.1.6. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4661.1.6. PMID 31716720.
Wataru Hiramatsu; Tetsuo Yoshino (2012). "A New Tilefish, Branchiostegus okinawaensis (Perciformes:Branchiostegidae), from Okinawa Island, Southern Japan" (PDF). Bulletin of the National Museum of Nature and Science (Ser. A) Supplement. No. 6: 41–49.
J. S. Nelson; T. C. Grande; M. V. H. Wilson (2016). Fishes of the World (5th ed.). Wiley. p. 456. ISBN 978-1-118-34233-6. Archived from the original on 2019-04-08. Retrieved 2021-03-07.