{{Short description|Species of fish}} {{Speciesbox | image = Congiopodus leucometopon 2.jpg | grandparent_authority = Honma, Imamura & Kawai, 2013 | parent_authority = Whitley, 1940 | display_parents = 3 | taxon = Perryena leucometopon | authority = (Waite, 1922) | synonyms = * ''Congiopodus leucometopon'' <small>Waite, 1922</small> | synonyms_ref = <ref name = Fishbase>{{FishBase|Perryena|leucometopon|month=February|year=2022}}</ref> }} The '''whitenose pigfish''' ('''''Perryena leucometopon''''') is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Congiopodidae, the horsefishes or pigfishes. It is endemic to the waters off southern and western Australia. It is the only species in the monotypic genus '''''Perryena''''' and the classification of that genus in the family Congiopodidae is not universally agreed upon.
==Taxonomy== The whitenose pigfish was first formally described in 1922 as ''Congiopodus leucometopon'' by the British-born Australian zoologist, ichthyologist, herpetologist, and ornithologist Edgar Ravenswood Waite with the type locality given as the beach at Glenelg on Gulf St Vincent in South Australia.<ref name = CofF>{{Cof genus|genus=Perryena|access-date=23 May 2022}}</ref> In 1940 Gilbert Percy Whitley reclassified this species in the monotypic genus ''Perryena''.<ref name = CofF2>{{Cof family|family=Perryeninae |access-date=23 May 2022}}</ref> A recent study placed the whitenose pigfish into an expanded stonefish clade, the Synanceiidae, because all of these fish have a lachrymal sabre that can project a switch-blade-like mechanism out from underneath their eye.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Smith, W. Leo |author2=Smith, Elizabeth |author3=Richardson, Clara | title=Phylogeny and Taxonomy of Flatheads, Scorpionfishes, Sea Robins, and Stonefishes (Percomorpha: Scorpaeniformes) and the Evolution of the Lachrymal Saber | date=February 2018 | journal=Copeia | volume=106 | number=1 | pages=94–119 | url=https://www.copeiajournal.org/copeia-bjah/ofcg-17-669yt497804km | doi=10.1643/CG-17-669| url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title=Stonefish are already scary, and now scientists have found they have switchblades in their heads | author=Willingham, AJ | date=April 13, 2018 | newspaper=CNN | url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/12/health/stonefish-switchblade-lachrymal-saber-trnd/index.html}}</ref> Other classify it within the monogeneric family Perryenidae but the 5th edition of ''Fishes of the World'' retains this taxon within the family Congiopodidae.<ref name = Nelson5>{{BioRef |fotw5 |page= 475}}</ref> However, ''Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes'' (2025) treats it as a member of Synanceiidae.<ref name="CofF3">{{Cof family|family=Synanceiidae|access-date=August 2, 2025}}</ref>
==Etymology== The whitenose pigfish was given the specific name ''leucometopon'' by Waite, this is a compound of ''leuco'', which means, "white" and ''metopon'', meaning "forehead", an allusion to the white patch at the anterior part of the head. The genus name of ''Perryena'' was coined by Whitley and honours George Perry, the English naturalist who originally named the genus ''Congiopodus'', which Waite had originally classified this species in.<ref name = ETYFish>{{cite web | url = https://etyfish.org/perciformes10/ | title = Order Perciformes (Part 10): Suborder Scorpaenoidei: Families Apistidae, Tetrarogidae, Synanceiidae, Aploacrinidae, Perryenidae, Eschmeyeridae, Pataecidae, Gnathanacanthidae, Congiopodidae and Zanclorhynchidae | work = The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database | editor1= Christopher Scharpf | editor2 = Kenneth J. Lazara | name-list-style = amp |date = 10 March 2022 | access-date = 23 May 2022 | publisher = Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara}}</ref>
==Description== The whitenose pigfish has a dorsal fin which starts over the centre of the eye and which contains 15 spines, with the fourth spine being the longest, and 9 soft rays. Unlike the species in the genus ''Congiopodus'' there are 3 spines, as opposed to none, in the anal fin and 6 or 7 soft rays. There are no scales on the skin. The forehead, first dorsal-fin spine, the anterior part of the snout and the tip of the chin are white, separated from the dark brown remainder of the head and body by a black stripe. This is a small species in which the type specimens were {{cvt|160|mm}} and {{cvt|130|cm}} in length.<ref name = Waite1922>{{cite journal | author = Waite, E.R. | year = 1922 | title = Description of a new Australian fish of the genus ''Congiopus'' | journal = Records of the South Australian Museum | volume = 2 | issue = 2 | pages = 215–217 | url = https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/13918713#page/234/mode/1up}}</ref>
==Distribution and habitat== The whitenose pigfish is endemic to southern and western Australia where there have been scattered records from the central coast of South Australia and off the southern and western coasts of Western Australia as far north as Port Denison.<ref name = ALA>{{cite web | url = https://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:biodiversity.org.au:afd.taxon:4fb0f171-46b4-443c-aff9-ff25c0c39b37#overview | title = ''Perryena leucometopon'' (Waite, 1922) | access-date = 23 May 2022 | publisher = Atlas of Living Australia}}</ref> It is a reef associated, benthic species found on the continental shelf.<ref name = Fishbase/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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Category:Congiopodidae Category:Fish described in 1922 Category:Taxa named by Edgar Ravenswood Waite Category:Taxa named by Gilbert Percy Whitley