Aplodactylus

{{Short description|Genus of ray-finned fishes}} {{Automatic taxobox | name = Marblefish or Aplodactylus | image = Aplodactylus punctatus.jpg | image_caption = ''Aplodactylus punctatus'' | parent_authority = Günther, 1859<ref name = VDLEF>{{cite journal | author1 = Richard van der Laan | author2 = William N. Eschmeyer | author3 = Ronald Fricke | name-list-style = amp | year = 2014 | title = Family-group names of Recent fishes | url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268078514_Family-group_names_of_Recent_fishes | journal = Zootaxa | volume = 3882 | issue = 2 | pages = 001–230 | access-date = 24 July 2021}}</ref> | taxon = Aplodactylus | authority = Valenciennes, 1832 | type_species = ''Aplodactylus punctatus'' | type_species_authority = Valenciennes, 1832 | display_parents = 2 | synonyms = * ''Crinodus'' Gill, 1862 * ''Dactylosargus'' Gill, 1862 * ''Haplodactylus'' Agassiz, 1846 * ''Parhaplodactylus'' Thominot, 1883 | synonyms_ref = <ref name = CofF>{{Cof family | family = Aplodactylidae | access-date = 26 July 2021}}</ref> }}

'''''Aplodactylus''''' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes, commonly known as marblefishes or sea carps. It is the only genus in the monogeneric family, '''Aplodactylidae'''. The fishes in this genus are found in the south eastern Indian Ocean and the southern Pacific Ocean.

==Taxonomy== Aplodactylus was described in 1832 by the French zoologist Achille Valenciennes with ''Aplodactylus punctatus'', which Valenciennes described from the type specimen collected from Valparaiso in Chile, as its only species, being the type species by monotypy.<ref name = CofF/><ref name = CofF2>{{Cof genus | genus = Aplodactylus | access-date = 26 July 2021}}</ref> The family had previously contained two genera with the monospecific ''Crinodon'' being recognised as a synonym of ''Aplodactylus'' by Barry C. Russell in 2000.<ref name = Russell>{{cite journal | author = Barry C. Russell |year = 2000 | title = Review of the southern temperate fish family Aplodactylidae (Pisces: Perciformes) | journal = Journal of Natural History | volume = 34 | issue =11 | pages = 2157–2171 | doi = 10.1080/002229300750022385}}</ref> The family, Aplodactylidae was created as Haplodactylidae by the German born British ichthyologist Albert Günther in 1859, the Dutch ichthyologist Pieter Bleeker corrected that to its current name later the same year.<ref name = VDLEF/> The family is regarded as part of the superfamily Cirrhitoidea, which is placed within the order Perciformes in the 5th Edition of ''Fishes of the World'',<ref name = Nelson5>{{cite book |title=Fishes of the World |edition=5th |author1=J. S. Nelson |author2=T. C. Grande |author3=M. V. H. Wilson |year=2016 |pages=460 |publisher=Wiley |ISBN=978-1-118-34233-6 |url=https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ |access-date=2021-07-26 |archive-date=2019-04-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408194051/https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> however other authorities place this clade within a new order within the wider Percomorpha, Centrarchiformes.<ref name = Fishbase2>{{FishBase family | family = Aplodactylidae | month= June | year = 2021}}</ref> The genus name is a compound of ''aploe'' meaning "single" or "simple" and ''daktylos'' meaning "finger", a reference to the unbranched lower pectoral fin rays of the type species.<ref name = ETYFish>{{cite web | url = https://etyfish.org/centrarchiformes/ | title =Order CENTRARCHIFORMES: Families CENTRARCHIDAE, ELASSOMATIDAE, ENOPLOSIDAE, SINIPERCIDAE, APLODACTYLIDAE, CHEILODACTYLIDAE, CHIRONEMIDAE, CIRRHITIDAE, LATRIDAE, PERCICHTHYIDAE, DICHISTIIDAE, GIRELLIDAE, KUHLIIDAE, KYPHOSIDAE, OPLEGNATHIDAE, TERAPONTIDAE, MICROCANTHIDAE and SCORPIDIDAE | work = The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database | editor1= Christopher Scharpf | editor2 = Kenneth J. Lazara | name-list-style = amp |date = 25 February 2021 | access-date = 26 July 2021 | publisher = Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara}}</ref>

==Species== The five currently recognized species in this genus are:<ref name = Fishbase>{{FishBase genus | genus = Aplodactylus| month = June | year = 2021}}</ref> * ''Aplodactylus arctidens'' J. Richardson, 1839 (marblefish) * ''Aplodactylus etheridgii'' (J. D. Ogilby, 1889) (notchheaded marblefish) * ''Aplodactylus lophodon'' Günther, 1859 (rock cale) * ''Aplodactylus punctatus'' Valenciennes, 1832 (Zamba marblefish) * ''Aplodactylus westralis'' B. C. Russell, 1987 (western seacarp)

==Characteristics== ''Aplodactylus'' species are characterised by a relatively long, deep and compressed body ending in a small, blunt head. They have a small mouth, which is placed just below the short snout, with a thick upper lip.<ref name = FofA>{{cite web | url = https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/family/75 | author = Dianne J. Bray | title = Marblefishes, APLODACTYLIDAE | work = Fishes of Australia | access-date = 26 July 2021 | publisher = Museums Victoria}}</ref> They have a long dorsal fin with a deep incision between the spiny and soft rayed portions. The anal fin is short based and triangular in shape while the pectoral fins are large and have a rounded shape,<ref name = nzf/> and their lower fin rays are not joined by membranes and are robust. The pelvic fins are located quite far to the rear of the base of the pectoral fins.<ref name = FofA/> They have small scales which are embedded in their skin and which extend onto the cheeks, as well as forming a scaly sheath at the base of the dorsal fin.<ref name = nzf>{{cite book | last1 = McMillan | first1 = P.J. | last2 = Francis | first2 = M.P. | last3 = Paul | first3 = L.J. | last4 = Marriott | first4 = P.J | last5 = Mackay | first5 = E. | last6 = Baird | first6 = S.-J. | last7 = Griggs | first7 = L.H. | last8 = Sui | first8 = H. | last9 = Wei | first9 = F. | display-authors = 3 | year = 2011 |title = New Zealand fishes. Volume 2: A field guide to less common species caught by bottom and midwater fishing | series = New Zealand Aquatic Environment and Biodiversity Report | volume = 78 | page = 27}}</ref> The dorsal fins have 14-23 spines and 16-21 soft rays while the anal fin has 6-8 soft rays. They have vomerine teeth and the teeth in the jaws vary in shape and can be incisor-like, sharply pointed or tricuspid.<ref name = Fishbase2/> They vary in size from a total length of {{cvt|34.7|cm}} in the Western seacarp to {{cvt|65|cm}} in the marblefish.<ref name = Fishbase/>

==Distribution and habitat== ''Aplodactylus'' is found in the south eastern Indian Ocean off Western Australia and in the southern Pacific Ocean off Australia, New Zealand and eastern South America.<ref name = Nelson5/> These are fishes of shallow inshore waters, typically on rocky coastlines.<ref name = Fishbase/>

==Biology== ''Apolidactylus'' fishes are herbivorous and feed on algae. The species may be sociable and from aggregations<ref name = Fishbase3>{{FishBase|Aplodactylus|lophodon|month=June|year=2021}}</ref> or they can be solitary and territorial.<ref name = nzf2>{{cite book | last1 = McMillan | first1 = P.J. | last2 = Francis | first2 = M.P. | last3 = Paul | first3 = L.J. | last4 = Marriott | first4 = P.J | last5 = Mackay | first5 = E. | last6 = Baird | first6 = S.-J. | last7 = Griggs | first7 = L.H. | last8 = Sui | first8 = H. | last9 = Wei | first9 = F. | display-authors = 3 | year = 2011 |title = New Zealand fishes. Volume 2: A field guide to less common species caught by bottom and midwater fishing | series = New Zealand Aquatic Environment and Biodiversity Report | volume = 78 | page = 129}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}} {{Non-Endemic Marine Fish of New Zealand}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q2411631}}

Category:Aplodactylidae Category:Taxa named by Albert Günther