''Chironemus'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of marine

ray finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or hor ...

, commonly known as kelpfishes, belonging to the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Chironemidae. They are found in the

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout ...

waters of the Southern Pacific Ocean.

Taxonomy

The Kelpfishes were placed in the monogeneric family Chironemidae in 1862 by the American ichthyologist

Theodore Nicholas Gill Theodore Nicholas Gill (March 21, 1837 – September 25, 1914) was an American ichthyologist, mammalogist, malacologist and librarian. Career Born and educated in New York City under private tutors, Gill early showed interest in natural histo ...

. The genus had been described in 1829 by the French

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and d ...

Georges Cuvier when he had described the

type species In 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 species that contains the biological type specime ...

''Chironemus georgianus''. The family is regarded as part of the superfamily Cirrhitoidea, which is placed within the order

Perciformes Perciformes (), also called the Percomorpha or Acanthopteri, is an order or superorder of ray-finned fish. If considered a single order, they are the most numerous order of vertebrates, containing about 41% of all bony fish. Perciformes means ...

in the 5th Edition of '' Fishes of the World'', however other authorities place this clade within a new order within the wider

Percomorpha Percomorpha () is a large clade of ray-finned fish that includes the tuna, seahorses, gobies, cichlids, flatfish, wrasse, perches, anglerfish, and pufferfish. Evolution Percomorpha are the most diverse group of teleost fish today. Teleosts, and ...

, Centrarchiformes. The name of the genus is from

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

''cheir'' meaning "hands" and ''nema'' meaning "thread".

Species

The currently recognized species in this genus are: * '' Chironemus bicornis'' ( Steindachner, 1898) * '' Chironemus delfini'' (

Porter Porter may refer to: Companies * Porter Airlines, Canadian regional airline based in Toronto * Porter Chemical Company, a defunct U.S. toy manufacturer of chemistry sets * Porter Motor Company, defunct U.S. car manufacturer * H.K. Porter, Inc., ...

, 1914) * '' Chironemus georgianus'' G. Cuvier, 1829 (tasselled kelpfish) * '' Chironemus maculosus'' ( J. Richardson, 1850) (silver spot) * '' Chironemus marmoratus'' Günther, 1860 (large kelpfish) * '' Chironemus microlepis'' Waite, 1916 (smallscale kelpfish)

Characteristics

The fishes within the genus ''Chironemus'' have tubular nostrils which have tufts of cirri. They have moderately sized

cycloid In geometry, a cycloid is the curve traced by a point on a circle as it rolls along a straight line without slipping. A cycloid is a specific form of trochoid and is an example of a roulette, a curve generated by a curve rolling on another cu ...

scales. The continuous

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through c ...

has a long base and robust spines. The spiny part of the dorsal fin is separated from the soft rayed part by distinct incision. The anal fin has small with thick spines. The large

pectoral fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as ...

s have their upper fin rays branched and 6 the six lower rays are notably more robust and are unbranched. These high backed fishes resemble the morwongs belonging to the family Cheilodactylidae but they have a truncate

caudal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as ...

and fewer soft rays in the anal fin. They typically have a marbled colour pattern camouflaging them in their preferred rocky habitat. The dorsal dins of these fishes contain 14-16 spines and 15-21 soft rays while their anal fins contain 6-8 soft rays. They have

vomerine teeth The vomer (; lat, vomer, lit=ploughshare) is one of the unpaired facial bones of the skull. It is located in the midsagittal line, and articulates with the sphenoid, the ethmoid, the left and right palatine bones, and the left and right maxill ...

but there are no teeth on the

palatine A palatine or palatinus (in Latin; plural ''palatini''; cf. derivative spellings below) is a high-level official attached to imperial or royal courts in Europe since Roman times.

. They grow to a maximum of approximately .

Distribution and habitat

''Chironemus'' kelpfishes are found in the southern Pacific Ocean off Asutralia, New Zealand and the western coast of South America off Peru and Chile. They are coastal fishes adapted to living in shallow waters where they are exposed to waves.

Biology

''Chironemus'' kelpfishes feed on benthic invertebrates. They lodge themselves into small niches or interstices in rocks holoding their bodies in place with their large pectoral fins.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2856266 Taxa named by Georges Cuvier Cirrhitoidea