''Artedidraco'' 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 ...

es 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 ...

Artedidraconidae, the barbeled plunderfishes. They are native to 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 ...

Taxonomy

''Artedidraco'' was first described as a genus in 1905 by the Swedish

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 ...

Einar Lönnberg when he created the genus for ''Artedidraco mirus'', a new species of fish from

South Georgia South Georgia is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. ...

he was describing following the collection of its

types 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. * Ty ...

by the

Swedish Antarctic Expedition The Swedish Antarctic Expedition of 1901–1903 was a scientific expedition led by Otto Nordenskjöld and Carl Anton Larsen. It was the first Swedish endeavour to Antarctica in the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Background Otto Nordensk ...

. As it was the only species in the new genus it was the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

monotypy In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

. The generic name is a compound of Artedi, honouring the Swedish

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

Peter Artedi Peter Artedi or Petrus Arctaedius (27 February 170528 September 1735) was a Swedish naturalist and collaborator of Carolus Linnaeus. He is sometimes known as the "father of ichthyology" for his pioneering work in classifying the fishes into gro ...

who was known as the "father of

ichthyology 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 ...

", and who was born 200 years before Lönnberg described ''A. mirus'' with ''draco'', from ''dracœna'' meaning "dragon" an

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

name for the weeverfish genus ''

Trachinus ''Trachinus'' is a genus of weevers, order Perciformes that consists of seven extant species. Six of the genus representatives inhabit the waters of Eastern Atlantic Ocean, but only one, ''Trachinus cornutus'', inhabits the South-Eastern Pacific ...

'' , although this may be a reference to the relationship Lönnberg mentioned to ''

Draconetta The common slope dragonet (''Draconetta xenica'') is a species of slope dragonet native to the Indo-Pacific region where it can be found from Africa to the Hawaiian Islands. It is a benthic fish, occurring on sandy bottoms at the edges of the co ...

'' which was thought to be a member of the Nototheniidae at that time.

Species

There are currently 7 recognized species in this genus: * '' Artedidraco glareobarbatus'' Eastman & Eakin, 1999 * '' Artedidraco longibarbatus'' Eakin, Riginella & La Mesa, 2015 (Long-beard plunderfish) Eakin, R.R., Riginella, E. & La Mesa, M. (2015): A new species of ''Artedidraco'' (Pisces: Artedidraconidae) from the Weddell Sea, Antarctica. ''Polar Biology, 38 (10): 1597-1603.'' * '' Artedidraco lonnbergi'' Roule, 1913 * '' Artedidraco mirus'' Lönnberg, 1905 * '' Artedidraco orianae'' Regan, 1914 * '' Artedidraco shackletoni'' Waite, 1911 * '' Artedidraco skottsbergi'' Lönnberg, 1905

Characteristics

''Artedidraco'' is the

type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus (''genus typica'') is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearin ...

of the family Artedidraconidae and so has many of the features characteristic of that family. Within the Atredidraconidae this genus is separated from the others by the first

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 ...

being located above the

pectoral fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish aquatic locomotion, swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the vertebral column ...

base. Their heads have a width which is roughly the same as their depth and the post temporal ridges are weakly developed. The snout is shorter than the diameter of the eye and the space between the eyes is narrow. The mental

barbel Barbel may refer to: *Barbel (anatomy), a whisker-like organ near the mouth found in some fish (notably catfish, loaches and cyprinids) and turtles *Barbel (fish), a common name for certain species of fish **''Barbus barbus'', a species of cyprini ...

, the barbel on the chin which characterises the barbeled plunderfishes, is tapered or expanded towards its tip. They have small jaws which are equipped with small conical teeth arranged in a band of many series of teeth. The 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 ...

has tubed scales at the head end and towards the caudal fin it normally has disc shaped scales, the middle lateral line consist of disc-shaped scales.. The maximum

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

of these fishes varies from in ''A. lonnbergi'' to in ''A. orianae''.

Distribution, habitat and biology

''Artedidraco'' is found in the coastal waters of the Antarctic continent with one species, ''A. mirus'' occurring as far north as South Georgia. They are found in the nearshore

sublittoral The littoral zone, also called litoral or nearshore, is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely in ...

zone and on 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 ...

and have been recorded as deep as . Their biology is little known but the species in this genus feed largely on

polychaetes Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine annelid worms, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are m ...

and small

crustaceans Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of Arthropod, arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquat ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2317420 Artedidraconidae Marine fish genera Taxa named by Einar Lönnberg