''Akarotaxis'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...

belonging to the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Bathydraconidae The Bathydraconidae, or the Antarctic dragonfishes, are a family of marine ray-finned fishes, notothenioids belonging to the Perciform suborder Notothenioidei. The family comprises four genera. These fishes are endemic to deep waters off Antarct ...

, the

Antarctic dragonfish The Bathydraconidae, or the Antarctic dragonfishes, are a family (taxonomy), family of marine ray-finned fishes, notothenioids belonging to the Perciform suborder Notothenioidei. The family comprises four genera. These fishes are endemic to deep ...

. There are two species: ''Akarotaxis nudiceps'' and ''Akarotaxis gouldae''. They are found in the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...

along the

continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an islan ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

Taxonomy

''Akarotaxis'' was first described as a genus in 1980 by the American

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

Hugh Hamilton DeWitt Hugh Hamilton DeWitt (28 December 1933 – 5 January 1995) was an American ichthyologist, marine biologist and oceanographer. Early life and education DeWitt was born on 28 December 1933 in San Jose, California, son of Carl Bryce Seligman, a coun ...

and the French ichthyologist

Jean-Claude Hureau Jean-Claude is a French masculine given name. Notable people with the name include: People called Jean-Claude * Jean-Claude Ades, an Italian electronic music producer * Jean-Claude Alibert (died 2020), a French racing driver * Jean-Claude Amiot ( ...

. ''Akarotaxis nudiceps'' was described in 1916 as ''Bathydraco nudiceps'' by the British-born Australian

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

Edgar Ravenswood Waite Edgar Ravenswood Waite (5 May 1866 – 19 January 1928) was a British/Australian zoologist, ichthyologist, herpetologist, and ornithologist. Waite was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, count ...

with the type locality given as

Queen Mary Land Queen Mary Land or the Queen Mary Coast () is the portion of the coast of Antarctica lying between Cape Filchner, in 91° 54' E, and Cape Hordern, at 100° 30' E. It is claimed by Australia as part of the Australian Antarctic Territory. It ...

off the

Shackleton Ice Shelf Shackleton Ice Shelf is an extensive ice shelf fronting the coast of East Antarctica from 95° E to 105° E. It extends for an along-shore distance of about , projecting seaward about in the western portion and in the east. It occ ...

. The

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...

was collected by the

Australasian Antarctic Expedition The Australasian Antarctic Expedition was a 1911–1914 expedition headed by Douglas Mawson that explored the largely uncharted Antarctic coast due south of Australia. Mawson had been inspired to lead his own venture by his experiences on Ernest ...

. The generic name compounds ''akaro'' meaning "short" or "small" with "taxis" which means "line" or "row", a reference to the short upper

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelia ...

, which comprises lees than 10 tubular scales. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''nudiceps'' means "naked head", thought to be an allusion to the absence of scales on the head despite Waite not mentioning this trait. ''Akarotaxis gouldae'' was described in August 2024, based on specimens exclusively found in a 400 km stretch of coastline in the

western Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martin in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctica. ...

, from

Lapeyrère Bay Lapeyrère Bay () is long and wide, and lies north of Gourdon Peninsula, indenting the northeast coast of Anvers Island, in the Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica. Its head is fed by Iliad Glacier. The bay was roughly charted by the German exped ...

in the north to

Adelaide Island Adelaide Island is a large, mainly ice-covered island, long and wide, lying at the north side of Marguerite Bay off the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. The Ginger Islands lie off the southern end. Mount Bodys is the easternmost mounta ...

in the south. The describers refrain from citing this as strong evidence of distribution, as it may be an artifact of

sampling bias In statistics, sampling bias is a bias (statistics), bias in which a sample is collected in such a way that some members of the intended statistical population, population have a lower or higher sampling probability than others. It results in a b ...

. The specific name was coined in honor of the U.S. Antarctic Research and Supply Vessel ''Laurence M. Gould'', and not the

namesake A namesake is a person, place, or thing bearing the name of another. Most commonly, it refers to an individual who is purposely named after another (e.g. John F. Kennedy Jr would be the namesake of John F. Kennedy). In common parlance, it may ...

of the vessel itself. ''A. gouldae'' was coined in the feminine form specifically to honor the ship, reflecting the practice of assigning ships female pronouns.

Description

''Akarotaxis'' has a slender, body which is covered in

ctenoid A fish scale is a small rigid plate that grows out of the skin of a fish. The skin of most jawed fishes is covered with these protective scales, which can also provide effective camouflage through the use of reflection and colouration, as w ...

scales and has two lateral lines, the upper lateral line having only 3-9 tubed scales in its anterior section with its posterior part being made up of poredscales which also make up the middle lateral line. The upper rear margin of the operculum has a small hook. They are equipped with small conical teeth arranged in bands. The

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found ...

has 29-33 soft rays while the

anal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported o ...

has 25-28 soft rays. Specimens preserved in alcohol have a brown body with a darker head, a pale dorsal fin pale and the other fins being dusky. This species attains a maximum

standard length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of fish anatomy, their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is ...

of .

Distribution, habitat and biology

''Akarotaxis'' is found almost all around the Antarctic continent from west of the

to the

Ross Sea The Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica, between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land and within the Ross Embayment, and is the southernmost sea on Earth. It derives its name from the British explorer James Clark Ross who ...

where it is a

bathydemersal Demersal fish, also known as groundfish, live and feed on or near the bottom of ocean, seas or lakes (the demersal zone).Walrond Carl . "Coastal fish - Fish of the open sea floor"Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 2 March 2009 T ...

species found at depths between on the outer

and in deep troughs. It has the lowest known fecundity of the Antarctic dragonfishes, laying only 2000 eggs per female.

Spawning Spawn is the Egg cell, eggs and Spermatozoa, sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of freely releasing eggs and sperm into a body of water (fresh or marine); the physical act is ...

takes place from mid to late summer.

Threats

''A. gouldae'' exhibit extremely low

fecundity Fecundity is defined in two ways; in human demography, it is the potential for reproduction of a recorded population as opposed to a sole organism, while in population biology, it is considered similar to fertility, the capability to produc ...

. They also associate with the ocean surface. Ergo, the budding Antarctic krill fishery in the region may capture ''A. gouldae'' larvae as bycatch, and thus imperil the species.

References

{{Taxonbar, from2=Q2668794, from1=Q2463468 Bathydraconidae Fish of Antarctica Taxa named by Edgar Ravenswood Waite Taxa named by H. H. DeWitt Fish described in 1916