Microcanthinae

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Supergroup: Opisthokonta
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclassis: Osteichthyes
Classis: Actinopterygii
Subclassis: Neopterygii
Infraclassis: Teleostei
Superordo: Acanthopterygii
Ordo: Perciformes
Subordo: Percoidei
Superfamilia: Percoidea
Familia: Kyphosidae
Subfamilia: Microcanthinae
Genus: Atypichthys - Microcanthus - Neatypus - Tilodon

Name

Microcanthinae Johnson, 1984

Vernacular names
English: footballers

The Microcanthinae, commonly known as footballers, mados, stripeys and moonlighters, are a subfamily of the sea chubs, a family of marine fish in the order Perciformes. The Microcanthinae are distributed across a fairly small range in the south west Indian Ocean and the eastern Pacific, with most species concentrated around Australia and New Zealand. They inhabit a variety of continental shelf environments, from inshore rocky coastlines to deep offshore reefs. They commonly exhibit a striped body colouring, and individual species may look quite similar. The subfamily was defined by Johnson in 1984 and contains four genera. All of the species are generally too small to be useful as a food fish, but are often used in marine aquaria.

Classification

The following is an incomplete list of genera and species:

* Subfamily MICROCANTHINAE
o Genus Atypichthys
+ Mado, Atypichthys latus McCulloch & Waite, 1916
+ Atypichthys strigatus (Günther, 1860)
o Genus Microcanthus
+ Stripey, Microcanthus strigatus (Cuvier, 1831)
o Genus Neatypus
+ Western footballer, Neatypus obliquus Waite, 1905
o Genus Tilodon
+ Moonlighter, Tilodon sexfasciatum (Richardson, 1842)

References

* Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2008). "Kyphosidae" in FishBase. May 2008 version.
* "Microcanthinae". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=645324. Retrieved May 2008.