{{Short description|Genus of fishes}} {{Automatic taxobox | taxon = Aiakas | authority = Gosztonyi, 1977 | type_species = ''Aiakas kreffti'' | type_species_authority = Gosztonyi, 1977<ref name = CofF>{{Cof family|family=Lycodinae|access-date=14 October 2022}}</ref> | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = 2, see text }}
'''''Aiakas''''' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Zoarcidae the eelpouts. These fishes are found in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean.
==Taxonomy== ''Aiakes'' was first proposed as a genus in 1974 by the Argentina based marine biologist Atila E. Gosztonyi. He named the new monospecific genus when he described its type species, and then only species, ''Aiakas kreffti'', which had been collected from a depth of {{cvt|800|m}} on the continental slope off Golfo San Jorge, Argentina.<ref name = CofF/> A second species, ''A. zinorum'', was described by M. Eric Anderson and Gosztonyi in 1991, also from off southern Argentina.<ref name = CofF2>{{Cof genus|genus=Aiakas|access-date=15 October 2022}}</ref> This genus is classified within the subfamily Lycodinae, one of 4 subfamilies in the family Zoarcidae, the eelpouts.<ref name = A&F2004>{{cite journal | author1 = Anderson, M. E. | author2 = V. V . Fedorov | name-list-style = and | year = 2004 | title = Family Zoarcidae Swainson 1839 — eelpouts | journal = California Academy of Sciences Annotated Checklists of Fishes | volume = 34 | url = https://www.calacademy.org/sites/default/files/assets/docs/zoarcidae.pdf}}</ref>
==Species== The following two species are classified within the genus:<ref name=Fishbase>{{FishBase genus | genus = Aiakas | month = June |year= 2022}}</ref> {{Linked species list | Aiakas kreffti | Gosztonyi, 1977 | Aiakas zinorum | Anderson & Gosztonyi, 1991 }}
==Etymology== ''Aiakas'', the genus name, is derived from the Yamana word ''aiakasi'', which manes "deep-sea fish", an allusion to the type locality. The specific name of the type species, ''A. kreffti'', honours the German ichthyologist Gerhard Krefft, of the Institute für Seefischerei in Hamburg for his assistance in describing that species. The specific name of ''A. zinorum'' honours the Soviet ichthyologists of ZIL, an abbreviation for the Zoological Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union, for their studies on the fishes of the Southern Ocean.<ref name = ETYFish>{{cite web | url = http://etyfish.org/perciformes14/ | title = Order Perciformes Suborder Cottoidea: Infraorder Zoarcales: Family: Zoarcidae | work = The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database | editor1= Christopher Scharpf | editor2 = Kenneth J. Lazara | name-list-style = amp |date = 6 May 2022 | access-date = 13 October 2022 | publisher = Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara}}</ref>
==Characteristics== ''Aiakas'' eelpouts are differentiated from related genera by having the lower lip attached to the mandibular symphysis, the nostril tubes do not overlap the upper lip, and they have teeth on the oral valve, vomer and palatine bone. There are no pelvic fins or papillae on the skin. The flesh is not gelatinous and they have scales. ''A. kresffti'' has 18 or 19 fin rays in the pectoral fin, no pore on the intraorbital region and 6 suborbital pores. ''A. zimorum'' has 14 or 15 fin rays in the pectoral fin, a pore on the intraorbital region and 5 suborbital pores.<ref name = A&G1991>{{cite journal | author1 = M. Eric Anderson | author2 = Atila E. Gosztonyi | name-list-style = and | year = 1991 | title = Studies on the Zoarcidae (Teleostei: Perciformes) of the Southern Hemisphere IV. New records and a new species from the Magellan Province of South America | journal = Ichthyological Bulletin of the J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology | volume = 55 | pages = 1–16}}</ref>
==Distribution and habitat== ''Aiakas'' eelpouts are bathydemersal fishes of the southwestern Atlantic Ocean living at depths greater than {{cvt|500|m}}.<ref name = Fishbase1>{{FishBase|Aiakas|kreffti|month=June|year=2022}}</ref><ref name = Fishbase2>{{FishBase|Aiakas|zinorum|month=June|year=2022}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Notes== * {{ITIS |id=630952 |taxon=''Aiakas'' |accessdate=6 June 2006}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2252088}}
Category:Lycodinae