The deepbody boarfish (''Antigonia capros''), or robust deepsea boarfish, is a species 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 ...

Caproidae Caproidae, or boarfishes, are a small family of marine fishes comprising two genera and 19 species. These fishes are found throughout the world in temperate and tropical seas. Taxonomy Caproidae was first proposed as a family in 1835 by the F ...

, the boarfishes. This fish is found in the warmer waters of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Taxonomy

The deepbody boarfish was first formally described in 1843 by the English

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 ...

Richard Thomas Lowe Richard Thomas Lowe (1802–1874) was an English botanist, ichthyologist, malacologist, and clergyman. In 1825 he graduated from Christ's College, Cambridge, and in the same year he took holy orders. In 1832 he became a clergyman in the Madeira ...

with its type locality given as

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

. When he described this species Lowe classified it in the new

monospecific genus 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 ...

'' Antigonia''. The 5th edition of ''

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' is a standard reference for the systematics of fishes. It was first written in 1976 by the American ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011). Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of t ...

'' classifies the genus ''Antigonia'' in the Antigoniinae, a subfamily of the Caproidae, within the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

Caproiformes Caproidae, or boarfishes, are a small family of marine fishes comprising two genera and 19 species. These fishes are found throughout the world in temperate and tropical seas. Taxonomy Caproidae was first proposed as a family in 1835 by the F ...

, as do other authorities. However, other authorities classify this taxon as a family, the Antigoniidae, and classify and the Caproidae in the order

Acanthuriformes Acanthuriformes is a large, diverse order of mostly marine ray-finned fishes, part of the Percomorpha clade. In the past, members of this clade were placed in the suborders Acanthuroidea and Percoidea of the order Perciformes, but this treatment ...

Etymology

The deepbody boarfish has the genus name, ''Antigonia'', and this was not explained by Lowe but it is probably a combination of ''anti'', meaning "against", and ''goneos'', which means "ancestor". This may be reference to how ''A. capros'' is so distinctive yet seems to elucidate the ancestry of relayed forms which Lowe felt were randomly classified before he described ''A. capros''. 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 ...

, ''capros'', means "boar" but is an indicator of its perceived familial relationship with ''

Capros aper ''Capros'', the boarfish or Zulu fish, is a monospecific genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Caproidae. Its only known species is ''Capros aper''. The boarfish is found in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean ...

''.

Description

The deepbody boarfish has a highly compressed, rhomboid shaped body with convex dorsal and ventral profiles. The small head bears bony ridges that radiate, has a concave dorsal profile and a clear crest along the nape. The eyes are large and the mouth is small, upward pointing, opens at the front and has protrusible jaws. The continuous

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 ...

is supported by 8 (occasionally 7 or 9) spines, the third spine being the longest, and between 33 and 37 soft rays. 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 2 or 3 spines with the first spine being the longest, these are separated from the 29 to 34 soft rays. The long bases of the soft rayed dorsal and anal fins have scaly sheaths. The roundly pointed

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 ...

s have a single spine and 12 or 13 fin rays. The overall colour of the body is orange red with 3 dark red vertical bands on the eye, the mid-body and the

caudal peduncle 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 only ...

. This species has a maximum published

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 .

Distribution and habitat

The deepbody boarfish is found in tropical and subtropical oceans throughout the world. In the eastern Atlantic it occurs as far north as the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay ( ) is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Point Penmarc'h to the Spanish border, and along the northern coast of Spain, extending westward ...

off France south to South Africa including the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

and Cape Verde. In the western Atlantic it is found from New England south to Uruguay, including the Caribbean. In the

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

it is found from East Africa to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

, north to Japan and south to Australia. It is a

demersal fish Demersal fish, also known as groundfish, live and feed on or near the bottom of 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 They oc ...

which is found at depths between , although it is normally found between , over rocky slopes and ledges.

Biology

The deepwater boarfish feeds on

zooplankton Zooplankton are the heterotrophic component of the planktonic community (the " zoo-" prefix comes from ), having to consume other organisms to thrive. Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents. Consequent ...

, small molluscs and crustaceans. It is frequently encountered in large aggregations. The adults are found closer to the bottom and the juveniles in midwater.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1041761 Caproidae Fish described in 1843 Fish of Aruba Taxa named by Richard Thomas Lowe