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: Ovalentaria
Subordo: Gobiesocoidei
Familia: Gobiesocidae
Genus: Kopua
Species: K. japonica – K. kuiteri – K. nuimata – K. vermiculata
Name
Kopua Hardy, 1984
Type species: Kopua nuimata Hardy, 1984
References
Hardy, G.S. 1984. A new genus and species of deepwater clingfish (family Gobiesocidae) from New Zealand. Bulletin of Marine Science 34 (2): 244–247. Reference page.
Moore, G.I.; Hutchins, J.B.; Okamoto, M. 2012: A new species of the deepwater clingfish genus Kopua (Gobiesociformes: Gobiesocidae) from the East China Sea—an example of antitropicality? Zootaxa 3380: 34–38. Preview Reference page.
Links
Kopua and its species (including synonyms) in Catalog of Fishes, Eschmeyer, W.N., Fricke, R. & van der Laan, R. (eds.) 2024. Catalog of Fishes electronic version.
Kopua species list in FishBase,
Froese, R. & Pauly, D. (eds.) 2024. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication, www.fishbase.org, version 02/2024.
ITIS
Kopua is a genus of clingfishes found in the Pacific Ocean.
Kopua are a genus of clingfishes belonging to the family Gobiesocidae. Fish belonging to this genus are found in the Pacific Ocean, around New Zealand, Australia, and the East China Sea.[2][3] The genus got its name “Kopua” from the Maori language; the name literally means “deep water”.[2] There are currently four known species of the genus:[3] Kopua numinata found in the northern waters of New Zealand, Kopua kuiteri found in southern Australian waters, Kopua japonica found in the East China Sea, and Kopua vermiculata found in the Sagami-nada Sea. The presence of Kopua in the Northern Hemisphere shows evidence of anti tropicality of fish within the family Gobiesocidae.[4] All species are found in waters deeper than 90m, ranging from 90m–408m in depth.[3] The genus was discovered through a trawling net of the ocean floor.[4] Not much is known about the genus’ habitat, except for the depth that the fish generally seem to reside, or the diet and behavior of the fish.
Description
Similar to other clingfishes, Kopua have small bodies with maximum lengths of 7 cm.[3] There is no observable sexual dimorphism in the recognized species.[2] All clingfish species have naked skin (scaleless), single dorsal and anal fins, a depressed head, as well as a pair of fin girdles that form the ventral sucking disk.[3] Fish that are part of the genus Kopua can be identified by specific shared characteristics, although each species does have varying measurements of each characteristic.[2][3] It is possible to distinguish species within the genus from each other by looking at the pore patterns and numbering and patterns of the anal and dorsal fins.[4] Fish within this genus have a slender body with a slender, depressed head and a short rounded snout, tubular nostrils on each side of the head that are free of a dermal flap and large eyes with narrow bony interorbit. They have a united gill membrane (no isthmus) fused opposite of the fourth pectoral ray, four gill arches with rakers and filaments; rakers are short and pointed.[2] They have a pore system, but it is only on the head of the fish.[2] The mouth is marginally inferior with a broad upper lip that barely narrows at the sides; there are two layers of teeth on the upper and lower jaw with the outermost layer teeth being flattened and rounded, the innermost layer are smaller, curved, and pointed, and the irregularly sized teeth along the side of the jaw.[2] Their dorsal and anal fins are moderately long and free from the caudal fin; they do not overlap the caudal fin base.[2][3] The double pelvic disc is striated with a square posterior fringe.[2] Kopua do not have a fleshy pactoral pad, and have a depressed posterior. Most species have an orangey-reddish pigmentation, but that is in death. The actual pigmentation of live fish is currently unknown.[2]
Species
There are currently 5 recognized species in this genus, although Fishbase currently only recognises 3:[5]
Kopua japonica G. I. Moore, Hutchins & Okamoto, 2012 (Japanese deepwater clingfish)
Kopua kuiteri Hutchins, 1991
Kopua nuimata Hardy, 1984
Kopua vermiculata Shinohara & Katayama, 2015 (Twilight clingfish) [3]
Kopua yoko Fujiwara, Okamoto & Motomura, 2018[6]
References
Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Kopua". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
Hardy, Graham S. (1984). "A new genus and species of deepwater clingfish (family Gobiesocidae) from New Zealand". Bulletin of Marine Science. 32 (2): 244–247.
Shinohara, Gento; Katayama, Eri (2015). "A new species of the clingfish genus Kopua (Gobiesociformes: Gobiesocidae) from Japan". Ichthyological Research. 62 (4): 431–438. doi:10.1007/s10228-015-0456-9. S2CID 17480623.
Moore, G.I; Hutchins, J.B.; Okamato, M. (2012). "A new species of deepwater clingfish genus Kopua (Gobiesociformes: Gobiesocidae) from the East China Sea–an example of antitropicality?". Zootaxa. 3380: 34–38. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3380.1.2.
Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Kopua". FishBase. April 2019 version.
Kyoji Fujiwara; Makoto Okamoto; Hiroyuki Motomura (2018). "Review of the clingfish genus Kopua (Gobiesocidae: Trachelochisminae) in Japan, with description of a new species". Ichthyological Research. 65 (4): 433–453. doi:10.1007/s10228-018-0633-8. S2CID 46951766.
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