Fringefin trevally

{{Short description|Species of fish}} {{Speciesbox | image = Fringefin trevally.jpeg | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name = iucn>{{cite iucn | author1 = Smith-Vaniz, W.F. | author2 = Williams, I. | name-list-style = amp | year = 2016 | title = ''Pantolabus radiatus'' |errata=2017 | volume = 2016 | article-number = e.T20432226A115380858 | doi = 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T20432226A67871530.en }}</ref> | parent_authority = Whitley, 1931 | taxon = Pantolabus radiatus | display_parents = 3 | authority = (W. J. Macleay, 1881) | range_map = Pantolabus_radiatus_distribution.png | range_map_caption = Approximate range of the fringefin trevally | synonyms =''Caranx radiatus'' Macleay, 1881 ''Absalom radiatus'' (Macleay, 1881) ''Caranx compressus'' Macleay, 1883 ''Caranx parasitus'' Garman, 1903 | synonyms_ref = <ref name = Fishbase>{{FishBase|Pantolabus|radiatus|month=August|year=2019}}</ref> }}

The '''fringefin trevally''' (''Pantolabus radiatus''), also called '''fringe-finned trevally''', '''round-finned trevally''' or '''reef herring''', is a species of inshore marine fish classified in the jack and horse mackerel family Carangidae. A relatively small fish, the fringefin trevally is known to reach {{convert|40|cm|abbr=on}}, but is mostly encountered at lengths less than {{convert|25|cm|abbr=on}}. The fringefin trevally has an ovate body, with distinctive orange-yellow fins and a black opercular spot. The dental patterns of the species distinguish it from the closely related scads of the genus ''Alepes''. Males have characteristic elongated dorsal and anal fins which produce a series of trailing filaments. The fringefin trevally is restricted to the waters of the Indo-Pacific, ranging from northern Australia to Papua New Guinea and eastern Indonesia. An inshore species, it is found in coastal and estuarine environments and exhibits daily and seasonal movements. The fringefin trevally is predatory, taking crustaceans as prey. The species is often taken as bycatch in prawn trawls and occasionally taken by anglers.

==Taxonomy and naming== The fringefin trevally is the only member of the monotypic genus ''Pantolabus'', one of around 30 genera in the jack and horse mackerel family Carangidae, which in turn is part of the order Carangiformes.<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=380–387 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-118-34233-6 |url=https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ |access-date=2019-11-28 |archive-date=2019-04-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408194051/https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ }}</ref>

The fringefin trevally was scientifically described by the Australian naturalist William Macleay in 1881 based on the holotype specimen taken in Rockingham Bay of Queensland, Australia.<ref name=Macleay1881>{{cite journal|last=Macleay|first=W.J.|title=Descriptive catalogue of the fishes of Australia. Part II|journal=Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales|year=1881|volume=5|issue=4|pages=510–629|doi=10.5962/bhl.part.15887|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/15887 }}</ref> He named the species ''Caranx radiatus'', with the specific epithet derived from the Latin word for 'radiating' in reference to the elongated fin filaments. Two years later in 1883, Macleay unknowingly redescribed the same species as ''Caranx compressus'', again from a Queensland-caught specimen.<ref name=Macleay1883>{{cite journal|last=Macleay|first=W.J.|title=Notes on a collection of fishes from the Burdekin and Mary rivers, Queensland|journal=Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales|year=1883|volume=8|issue=2|pages=199–213}}</ref> The American ichthyologist Samuel Garman also redescribed the species as ''Caranx parasitus'' in 1903.<ref name=Garman1903>{{cite journal|last=Garman|first=S.|title=Some fishes from Australasia|journal=Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology|year=1903|volume=39|issue=8|pages=229–241}}</ref> These later names are considered junior synonyms under ICZN rules and considered invalid. The current generic name arose after the Australian ichthyologist Gilbert Whitley examined Garman's ''Caranx parasitus'' and concluded it warranted placement in a separate genus with close affinity to the genus ''Alepes''.<ref name=Whitley1931>{{cite journal|last=Whitley|first=G.P.|title=Studies in Ichthyology. No. 4|journal=Records of the Australian Museum|year=1931|volume=18|issue=3|pages=96–133|doi=10.3853/j.0067-1975.18.1931.720|doi-access=free}}</ref> He named the genus ''Pantolabus''; in his description he gives no explanation of the etymology, but it likely is derived from a Latin name for men, most notably the character of the same name in Horace's ''Satires''.<ref name = "Zoocat">{{cite book | last = Hosese | first = D.F. |author2=Bray, D.J. |author3=Paxton, J.R. |author4=Alen, G.R. | title = Zoological Catalogue of Australia Vol. 35 (2) Fishes | publisher = CSIRO | year = 2007 | location = Sydney | page = 1150 | isbn =978-0-643-09334-8 }}</ref> In 1937, Whitley also revised ''Caranx radiatus'', placing it a separate new genus; ''Absalom''.<ref name=Whitley1937>{{cite journal|last=Whitley|first=G.P.|title=Further ichthyological miscellanea|journal=Memoirs of the Queensland Museum|year=1937|volume=11|issue=2|pages=113–148}}</ref> Further revisions recognised the priority of ''Caranx radiatus'' as the first description and agreed with the placement in a monotypic genus. Since Whitley's ''Pantolabus'' came first, it had priority, creating the currently accepted name of ''Pantolabus radiatus''.<ref name = "Gunn">{{cite journal | last = Gunn | first = John S. | title = A revision of selected genera of the family Carangidae (Pisces) from Australian waters | journal = Records of the Australian Museum Supplement| volume = 12 | pages =1–78 | year = 1990 | doi = 10.3853/j.0812-7387.12.1990.92| doi-access = free }}</ref>

The species is commonly referred to as the fringefin or fringe-finned trevally in reference to the elongated dorsal and anal fin lobes. Other less commonly used names include round-finned trevally and reef herring.<ref name = "fishbase">{{FishBase | genus = Pantolabus | species = radiatus | year = 2012 | month = October}}</ref>

The fringefin trevally was included in a phylogenetic study based upon morphological characteristics by Soko Gushiken. This found the species to be most closely related to the scad genus ''Alepes'', included in a larger monophyletic grouping of scads and horse mackerels as part of the subfamily Caranginae.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Gushiken|first=S.|year=1986|title=Phylogenetic Relationships of the Perciform Genera of the Family Carangidae|journal=Japanese Journal of Ichthyology|volume=34|issue=4|pages=443–461|issn=0021-5090}}</ref>

==Description== left|thumb|The male fringefin trevally has elongated dorsal and anal fin rays The fringefin trevally is a relatively small species of carangid: reaching a maximum recorded length of {{convert|40|cm|abbr=on}}, it is more commonly encountered at lengths less than 25 cm.<ref name=Allen2009>{{cite book|last=Allen|first=G.R.|title=Field Guide to Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia and South-East Asia|year=2009|publisher=West Australian Museum|location=Welshpool, WA|isbn=978-1-920843-39-7|page=287}}</ref> The species has an oval-shaped body with the dorsal and ventral profiles equally convex.<ref name = "FAO_CP">{{cite book |last= Smith-Vaniz |first= W.|editor= Carpenter, K.E. |editor2=Niem, V.H.|title= The living marine resources of the Western Central Pacific Vol 4. Bony fishes part 2 (Mugilidae to Carangidae)|chapter-url= ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/009/y4160e/y4160e00.pdf|series= FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes |year= 1999|publisher= FAO|location= Rome|isbn= 92-5-104301-9|pages= 2659–2757|chapter= Carangidae}}</ref> The fringefin trevally's dentition is one of the features that allows it to be distinguished from the scads of the genus ''Alepes'', having a single row of moderately enlarged, conical teeth on the lower jaw and an outer row of conical teeth on the upper jaw bordered by inner bands of small, but not villiform, sharply pointed teeth.<ref name=Gunn /> A well developed adipose eyelid is present on the posterior half of the eye, similar to the members of ''Alepes''.<ref name = "FAO_CP"/> The dorsal fin is in two parts; the first having eight spines and the second one spine and 20 to 26 soft rays. The anal fin has two detached spines followed by 18 to 20 soft rays. The males of the species have all their soft dorsal and anal fins extended into distinctive filaments, with the longest filaments at the front of the second dorsal fin. The second dorsal and anal fins of both sexes have a scaly basal sheath.<ref name=Gunn /><ref name = "FAO_CP"/> The lateral line has a moderate anterior arch, with 33 to 41 scales in the curved section and no to 9 scales and 38 to 49 scutes on the straight section. It has 36 to 41 gill rakers in total and 24 vertebrae.<ref name = "FAO_CP"/>

The fringefin trevally is an olive-green to bluish-green colour above, grading to a silvery-white below. A large black spot about the same size as the eye is present on the operculum. The dorsal, anal, and caudal fins are all a distinctive orange-yellow colour, with the caudal fin having also having a black upper lobe.<ref name = "Barrier">{{cite book | last = Randall | first = John Ernest |author2=Roger C. Steene |author3=Gerald R. Allen | title = Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea | publisher = University of Hawaii Press | year = 1997 | page = 161 | isbn = 0-8248-1895-4 }}</ref> The pectoral fins are pale orange to hyaline and the pelvic fins are white.<ref name = "FAO_CP"/>

==Distribution and habitat== The fringefin trevally is distributed through a small area of the Indo-Pacific, ranging from northern Australia to Papua New Guinea and West Papua in Indonesia. Around Australia, the species is known from Port Hedland in Western Australian around to Gladstone in Queensland.<ref name=Gunn />

The fringefin trevally is predominantly an inshore species, rarely found in waters greater than 30 m deep. The species commonly enters estuaries,<ref name = "FAO_CP"/> but is restricted to the lower reaches of these environments.<ref name=Blaber2010>{{cite journal|last=Blaber|first=S.J.M.|author2=S.P. Griffiths |author3= R. Pillans|title=Changes in the fish fauna of a tropical Australian estuary since 1990 with reference to prawn predators and environmental change|journal=Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science|year=2010|volume=86|issue=4|pages=692–696|doi=10.1016/j.ecss.2009.12.012|bibcode=2010ECSS...86..692B}}</ref> Studies in northern Australia suggest the species prefer turbid waters, with trawl catches increasing in more turbid waters.<ref name=Blaber1995>{{cite journal|last=Blaber|first=S.J.M. |author2=D.T. Brewer |author3=J.P. Salini|title=Fish Communities and the Nursery Role of the Shallow Inshore Waters of a Tropical Bay in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia|journal=Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science|year=1995|volume=40|issue=2|pages=177–193|doi=10.1016/S0272-7714(05)80004-6|bibcode=1995ECSS...40..177B }}</ref> Fringefin trevally have also been recorded over seagrass habitats.<ref name=Blaber1992>{{cite journal|last=Blaber|first=S.J.M. |author2=D.T. Brewer |author3=J.P. Salini |author4=J.D. Kerr |author5=C. Conacher|title=Species Composition and Biomasses of Fishes in Tropical Seagrasses at Groote Eylandt, Northern Australia|journal=Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science|year=1992|volume=35|issue=6|pages=605–620|doi=10.1016/S0272-7714(05)80042-3|bibcode=1992ECSS...35..605B }}</ref>

==Biology and fishery== Little is known of the fringefin trevally, with only a handful of studies in northern Australia recording aspects of its ecology. These focused predominantly on abundance, movements, and habitats of a variety of species. The species was found to be more abundant in trawl catches during the night<ref name=Blaber1992 /> and on neap tides.<ref name=Blaber1995/> On a longer-term scale, the fringefin trevally was present in the Gulf of Carpentaria study area from January to August before moving out of the catch area. The species does not appear to change habitat with age, with individuals of various stages of their lives found in estuarine, inshore, and shelf environments.<ref name=Blaber1995/> The fringefin trevally is a predator, feeding on epibenthic crustaceans.<ref name=Gunn />

The fringefin trevally is not a commercially targeted species, but still makes up a small percentage of the northern Australian prawn trawls.<ref name=Blaber1992 /> They are occasionally taken by anglers on bait or small lures and considered to be mediocre table fish.<ref name=Allen2009 />

==References== {{Reflist|33em}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Pantolabus radiatus}} {{Wikispecies|Pantolabus|Pantolabus radiatus}} *[http://www.fishbase.us/summary/Pantolabus-radiatus.html Fringefin trevally (''Pantolabus radiatus'')] at [http://www.fishbase.org/search.php FishBase] *[https://australianmuseum.net.au/Fringefin-Trevally-Pantolabus-radiatus Fringefin trevally (''Pantolabus radiatus'')] at [http://australianmuseum.net.au Australian Museum]

fringefin trevally fringefin trevally