Parabembras

{{Short description|Genus of fishes}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Species of Parabembras.jpg | image_caption = Lateral view of the three species of ''Parabembras''; A ''P. curta'', FAKU 41447, 143.5 mm SL B ''P. robinsoni'', NSMT-P 129791, 165.1 mm SL C ''P. multisquamata'', holotype, MNHN-IC-2008-1516, 167.3 mm SL. White line indicates anus. | taxon = Parabembras | authority = Bleeker, 1874 | type_species = ''Bembras curtus'' | type_species_authority = Temminck & Schlegel, 1843<ref name = CofF>{{Cof family|family=Bembridae|access-date=2 July 2022}}</ref> }}

'''''Parabembras''''' is a genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Bembridae, the deepwater flatheads, although they are sufficiently different from the other genera in that family to be classified as their own family, Parabembradidae, by some authorities. These fishes are found in the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean.

==Taxonomy== ''Parabembras'' was first described as a genus in 1874 by the Dutch physician, herpetologist and ichthyologist Pieter Bleeker as a monotypic genus with its only species being ''Bembras curtus''.<ref name = CofF/> which had been described in 1843 by Temminck and Schlegel from Nagasaki.<ref name = CofF2>{{Cof genus|genus=Parabembras|access-date=2 July 2022}}</ref> The 5th edition of Fishes of the World places ''Parabembras'' in the family Bembridae with the other deepwater flatheads<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= 467–495 |publisher=Wiley |isbn= 978-1-118-34233-6 |url=https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ }}</ref> but other authorities classify it within its own monotypic family, the Parabembradidae.<ref name = Kai>{{cite journal |doi=10.3897/zookeys.740.21729 |author1=Yoshiaki Kai|author2=Ronald Fricke |year =2018 |title=Taxonomic review of the deep water flathead genus Parabembras with description of the new species Parabembras multisquamata from the western Pacific Ocean |journal=ZooKeys |issue=740 | pages =59–76 |pmid=29674889 |pmc=5904489 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Parabembradidae was first proposed as a family in 1925, with the name then being Parabembridae, by the American ichthyologists David Starr Jordan and Carl Leavitt Hubbs.<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://mapress.com/zt/article/download/zootaxa.3882.1.1/33563 | journal = Zootaxa | volume = 3882 | issue = 2 | pages = 001–230 | doi = 10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1 | pmid = 25543675 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

===Species=== The currently recognized species in this genus are:<ref name = Fishbase>{{FishBase genus | genus = Parabembras| month = February | year = 2022}}</ref> with a new species described in 2018.<ref name = Kai/> * ''Parabembras curta'' (Temminck & Schlegel, 1843) - northwestern Pacific * ''Parabembras multisquamata'' Kai, Fricke, 2018 - southwestern Pacific and the Philippines * ''Parabembras robinsoni'' Regan, 1921 (African deep-water flathead) - southwestern Indian Ocean

===Etymology=== ''Parabembras'' combines ''para'', meaning "near", with ''Bembras'', the type genus of the Bembridae and the original genus of ''P. curta''.<ref name = ETYFish>{{cite web | url = https://etyfish.org/perciformes11/ | title = Order Perciformes (Part 11): Suborder Platycephaloidei: Families Bembridae, Parabembridae, Hoplichthyidae, Platycephalidae and Plectrogeniidae | work = The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database | editor1= Christopher Scharpf | editor2 = Kenneth J. Lazara | name-list-style = amp |date = 7 December 2021 | access-date = 26 May 2022 | publisher = Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara}}</ref>

==Characteristics== Parabembras differs from the other Bembrid genera by having 3 spines in the anal fin whereas the others have none. The lower jaw protrudes past the lower and the maxilla is narrow to its rear.<ref name = FAO>{{cite book | editor1 =Carpenter, K.E. | editor2 = Niem, V.H. | title = FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes. The living marine resources of the Western Central Pacific. Volume 4. Bony fishes part 2 (Mugilidae to Carangidae) | publisher = FAO, Rome | year = 1999 | chapter = Bembridae Deepwater flatheads | author = S.G., Poss | pages = 2383–2384 | isbn = 9251043019}}</ref> These flatheads vary in size from ''P. curta'', which has a maximum published standard length of {{cvt|15.1|cm}}, to ''P. robinsoni'', which has a maximum published total length of {{cvt|24|cm}}.<ref name = Fishbase/>

==Distribution and habitat== ''Parabembras'' deepwater flatheads are found in the southwestern Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific Ocean.<ref name = Kai/> They are demersal to bathydemersal fishes living down to depths of {{cvt|600|m}}.<ref name = Fishbase2>{{FishBase|Parabembras|curta|month=February|year=2022}}</ref><ref name = Fishbase3>{{FishBase|Parabembras|robinsoni|month=February|year=2022}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Bembridae Category:Parabembras Category:Taxa named by Pieter Bleeker