The warty prowfish (''Aetapcus maculatus''), also known as the smooth prowfish or Tasmanian prowfish, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

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 h ...

, an

Australian prowfish The Australian prowfishes are a small family, the Pataecidae, of ray-finned fishes classified within the order Scorpaeniformes. Australian prowfishes are distinguished by a long dorsal fin that begins far forward on the head, forming a "prow" s ...

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 ...

Pataecidae The Australian prowfishes are a small family, the Pataecidae, of ray-finned fishes classified within the order Scorpaeniformes. Australian prowfishes are distinguished by a long dorsal fin that begins far forward on the head, forming a "prow" sh ...

, It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

to the

coast The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

al waters of southern Australia where it inhabits mostly rocky

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic processes—deposition (geology), deposition of ...

s. This species is the only member of the

monotypic 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 "unispec ...

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 n ...

''Aetapcus''.

Taxonomy

The warty prowfish was first formally described in 1861 as ''Pataecus maculatus'' by the German-born British

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, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of October ...

Albert Günther Albert Karl Ludwig Gotthilf Günther Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS, also Albert Charles Lewis Gotthilf Günther (3 October 1830 – 1 February 1914), was a German-born British zoologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. Günther is ranked th ...

with the

type locality Type locality may refer to: * Type locality (biology) * Type locality (geology) See also * Local (disambiguation) * Locality (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...

given as

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...

. In 1936 the Australian teacher and ichthyologist

Eric Oswald Gale Scott Eric Oswald Gale Scott (b. 18 October 1899 at Launceston, Tasmania, d. 24 June 1986 at Launceston) was an Australian teacher, museum director, ichthyologist and pacifist. He was the director of the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launces ...

classified this species within the monotypic genus ''Aetapcus''. The 5th edition of ''

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' by the American Ichthyology, ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011) is a standard reference for fish systematics. Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of the diversity and classificat ...

'' classifies the family Pataecidae within the

suborder Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...

Scorpaenoidei Scorpaenoidei is a suborder of ray-finned fishes, part of the order Scorpaeniformes, that includes the scorpionfishes, lionfishes and velvetfishes. This suborder is at its most diverse in the Pacific and Indian Oceans but is also found in the At ...

which in turn is classified within the order Scorpaeniformes. Other authorities place the Scorpaenoidei within the

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 ...

. A recent study placed the Australian prowfishes into an expanded stonefish clade,

Synanceiidae Synanceiinae is a subfamily of venomous ray-finned fishes, waspfishes, which is classified as part of the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes and their relatives. These fishes are found in the Indo-Pacific oceans. They are primarily marine ...

, because all of these fish have a lachrymal sabre that can project a switch-blade-like mechanism out from underneath their eye. The name of the genus is an anagram of '' Pataecus'', Scott originally considered this genus to be a subgenus of ''Pataecus''.

Description

The warty prowfish has a compressed, unusually wedge-shaped, elongate body with the skin of adults covered in bumps resembling warts, juveniles have smooth skins. The

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 its origin in front of the eyes, has between 18 and 22 spines and 12 to 13 soft rays, which are even in height, and is connected to the

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 s ...

by a membrane and they do not have pelvic fins. The

anal 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 ...

has between 4 and 9 spines and 3 to 5 soft rays. There are 8 rays in the

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 ...

and 9 in the caudal fin. They have a large head with a near vertical dorsal profile of the snout. The colour is very variable, they are frequently dusky yellow, or greyish to olive-brown, or even orange to red, marked with darker blotches and spots. The spots on the head and body are small while the spots on the dorsal and caudal fins are frequently large, the largest spots are close to the bases of the fins. The maximum published

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

of this species is .

Distribution and habitat

The warty prowfish is

to the waters of southern Australia where it is found from

Shark Bay Shark Bay ( Malgana: ''Gathaagudu'', "two waters") is a World Heritage Site in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. The http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/world/shark-bay area is located approximately north of Perth, on the ...

, Western Australia, to

Wilsons Promontory, Victoria Wilsons Promontory, is a peninsula that forms the southernmost part of the Australian mainland, located in the state of Victoria. South Point at is the southernmost tip of Wilsons Promontory and hence of mainland Australia. Located at near ...

, and south to

Maria Island, Tasmania Maria Island or 'wukaluwikiwayna' in island.html" ;"title="alawa kani) is a mountainous island">alawa kani) is a mountainous island located in the Tasman Sea, off the east coast of Tasmania, Australia. The island is contained within the Maria ...

. This species is found in sheltered coastal waters on reefs, in bays and harbours at depths between . They are frequently found in association with

sponge Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate throug ...

s, although they will also use

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four families ( Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and Cymodoceaceae), all in the ...

and

seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of ''Rhodophyta'' (red), ''Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ke ...

beds to shelter in.

Biology

The warty prowfish is an

ambush predator Ambush predators or sit-and-wait predators are carnivorous animals that capture or trap prey via stealth, luring or by (typically instinctive) strategies utilizing an element of surprise. Unlike pursuit predators, who chase to capture prey u ...

, sitting camouflaged in its habitat and ambushing prey, mainly crustraceans. This species sheds its skin on a regular basis, this was first observed in specimens kept in an aquarium. SHedding occurs every three week or so and it is thought that in these highly dedentary fish a film of organisms colonises the skin and the fish sheds the skin to rid itself of this film. When disturbed these fishes may emit a cloud of distasteful liquid as a protective measure.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q1927736, from2=Q2673183 Pataecidae Taxa named by Albert Günther Fish described in 1861