{{Short description|Genus of fishes}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Centracanthus cirrus juv 2.jpg | image_caption = Curled picarel (''C. cirrus'') | taxon = Centracanthus | authority = [[Constantine Samuel Rafinesque|Rafinesque]], 1810 | type_species = ''Centracanthus cirrus'' | type_species_authority = Rafinesque, 1810 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = see text }} '''''Centracanthus''''' is a [[genus]] of marine [[ray-finned fish]]es belonging to the [[Family (taxonomy)|family]] [[Sparidae]], the seabreams and porgies. There is a single extant species in this genus, as well as an extinct species classified within the genus. The extant species is found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, the [[Mediterranean Sea]] and [[Black Sea]].
==Taxonomy== ''Centracanthus'' was first proposed as a [[monospecific genus]] in 1810 by the French [[naturalist]] and [[polymath]] [[Constantine Samuel Rafinesque]] when he [[Species description|described]] ''Centracanthus cirrus'',<ref name = CofF>{{Cof family|family=Sparidae|access-date=4 January 2024}}</ref> giving its [[Type locality (biology)|type locality]] as [[Sicily]].<ref name = CofF2>{{Cof genus|genus=Centracanthus|access-date=4 January 2024}}</ref> The genus was considered to be monospecific untIl a [[fossil]] species, ''C. pobedinae'', from the [[Miocene]] was described from Kazakhstan in 2015.<ref name = Bratishko/> This genus is placed in the family Sparidae within the [[Order (biology)|order]] [[Spariformes]] by the 5th edition of ''[[Fishes of the World]]''.<ref name = Nelson5>{{cite book |author1=Nelson, J.S. |author1-link=Joseph S. Nelson |author2=Grande, T.C. |author3=Wilson, M.V.H. |year=2016 |title=Fishes of the World |edition=5th |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |place=Hoboken, NJ |pages=502–506 |isbn=978-1-118-34233-6 |lccn=2015037522 |oclc=951899884 |ol=25909650M |doi=10.1002/9781119174844}}</ref> Some authorities classify this genus in the [[Monotypic taxon|monotypic]] [[subfamily]] Centracanthinae,<ref name = Parenti>{{cite journal |author=Parenti, P. |year=2019 |title=An annotated checklist of the fishes of the family Sparidae |journal=FishTaxa |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=47–98 |url=https://fishtaxa.com/menuscript/index.php/ft/article/view/49/52 |archive-date=2025-02-21 |access-date=2024-01-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250221133739/https://fishtaxa.com/menuscript/index.php/ft/article/view/49/52 |url-status=dead }}</ref> but the 5th edition of Fishes of the World does not recognise subfamilies within the Sparidae.<ref name = Nelson5/> This genus and the genus ''[[Spicara]]'' were considered to belong to a separate family, Centracanthidae, but phylogenetic analyses resolved that the Sparidae was paraphyletic if Centracanthus and Spicara were not included within it.<ref name = C&J>{{cite journal |author=Kent E. Carpenter |author-link=Kent E. Carpenter |author2=G David Johnson |name-list-style=and |year=2002 |title=A phylogeny of sparoid fishes (Perciformes, Percoidei) based on morphology |journal=Ichthyological Research |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=114–127 |doi=10.1007/s102280200015 |bibcode=2002IchtR..49..114C |url=https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/9750/vz_02Carpenter_Johnson_sparoid.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y}}</ref>
==Etymology== ''Centracanthus'' is a combination of ''centron'', meaning “point”, and ''acanthus'', which means “thorn” or “spine”, this may be a reference to what Rafinesque described as two [[dorsal fin]]s with “some rays or loose thorns between them and their membranes”. In fact, there is a single dorsal fin with a dip in its middle section.<ref name = ETYFish>{{cite web |url=https://etyfish.org/spariformes/ |title=Order SPARIFORMES: Families LETHRINIDAE, NEMIPTERIDAE and SPARIDAE |work=The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database |access-date=4 January 2024 |date=22 December 2023 |publisher=Christopher Scharpf |archive-date=30 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231030165034/https://etyfish.org/spariformes/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Species== There are two species classified within the genus:<ref name = Fishbase>{{FishBase genus|genus=Centracanthus|month=October|year=2023}}</ref> * ''[[Centracanthus cirrus]]'' <small>Rafinesque, 1810</small> (Curled picarel) * {{extinct}} ''[[Centracanthus pobedinae]]'' <small>Bratishko, ''et al.'' 2015</small><ref name = Bratishko>{{cite journal |author=A. Bratishko |author2=W. Schwarzhans |author3=B. Reichenbacher |author4=Y. Vernyhorova |author5=S. Coric. |name-list-style=and |year=2015 |title=Fish otoliths from the Konkian (Miocene, early Serravallian) of Mangyshlak (Kazakhstan): testimony to an early endemic evolution in the Eastern Paratethys |journal=Paläontologische Zeitschrift |volume=89 |issue=4 |pages=839–889 |doi=10.1007/s12542-015-0274-4 |bibcode=2015PalZ...89..839B }}</ref>
==Characteristics== ''Centracanthus'' have strongly protrusible mouths and elongate bodies which are shallower than the length of the head and with a [[standard length]] which is 5 to 5.6 times its depth. There is a wide incision in the middle of the dorsal fin.<ref name = FAO>{{cite book |author=Kent E. Carpenter |author-link=Kent E. Carpenter |chapter=Sparidae |pages=2567–2620 |editor1=Carpenter, K.E. |editor2=De Angelis, N.|name-list-style=and |year=2016 |title=The living marine resources of the Eastern Central Atlantic Volume 2 Bony fishes part 2 (Perciformes to Tetradontiformes) and Sea turtles |series=FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes |location=Rome |publisher=FAO |url=https://www.fao.org/3/i5715e/i5715e.pdf |isbn=978-92-5-109267-5}}</ref> The fossil species, ''C. pobedinae'' was identified by its distinctive [[otolith]]s.<ref name = Bratishko/>
==Distribution== ''Centracanthus'' are found in the temperate western Atlantic Ocean as far north as Portugal and south to the [[Canary Islands]], into the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea.<ref name = FAO/> ''C. cirrus'' has also been reported from Cape Verde and Mauritania.<ref name = Vikaly>{{cite book |author=Vakily, J.M. |author2=Camara, S.B. |author3=Mendy, A.N. |author4=Marques, V. |author5=Samba, B. |author6=Santos, A.J. dos. |author7=Sheriff, M.F. |author8=Ould Taleb Sidi, M. |author9=Pauly, D. |display-authors=3 |year=2002 |title=Poissons Marins de la Sous-Région Nord-Ouest Africaine EUR 20379 FR |publisher=Commission Européenne |location=Bruxelles & Italy |lang=Fr |url=https://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/ocrd/215707.pdf}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1930732}}
[[Category:Sparidae]] [[Category:Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque]] [[Category:Spariform fish genera]] [[Category:Fish genera with one living species]]