''Pterois mombasae'', the African lionfish, deepwater firefish or frillfin turkeyfish, 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 ...

Scorpaenidae The Scorpaenidae (also known as scorpionfish) are a family (biology), family of mostly ocean, marine fish that includes many of the world's most venomous species. As their name suggests, scorpionfish have a type of "sting" in the form of sharp ...

, the scorpionfishes and lionfishes. It is found in the tropical

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

, typically in soft-bottomed areas of the ocean, often in conjunction with invertebrate growth (for example,

sponges Sponges or sea sponges are primarily marine invertebrates of the animal phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), a basal clade and a sister taxon of the diploblasts. They are sessile filter feeders that are bound to the seabed, and ar ...

). It grows to a maximum size of 20 cm, and is of moderate commercial value.

Taxonomy

''Pterois mombasae'' was first formally described in 1957 as ''Pteropterus mombasae'' by the South African

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 ...

J. L. B. Smith James Leonard Brierley Smith (26 September 1897 – 8 January 1968) was a South African ichthyology, ichthyologist, organic chemist, and university professor. He was the first to identify a taxidermied fish as a coelacanth, at the time thought t ...

with the type locality given as a reef off Mombasa in Kenya. Smith noted that it seemed to most resemble '' Pterois sphex'' from

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 ...

. In 2014 a new species, '' Pterois paucispinula'', was described from the Western Pacific Ocean and the authors of that description stated that ''P. mombasae'' was restricted to the Indian Ocean and that previously the new species had been overlooked. 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 ...

refers to the type locality.

Description

''Pterois mobasae'' has 13 spines and 10 soft rays in its

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 ...

and 3 spines and 6 or 7 soft rays in its

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 ...

. It has an oblong laterally compressed body and has either no supraoculat tentacles or they are very small. The 18-19 fin rays in the pectoral din are unbranched. The body has many brown to brownish red bars of differing widths, the bars on 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 ...

are thin and wavy. There s a brownish red spot, smaller in diameter than the pupil, on the lower operculum. The soft-rayed part of the dorsal fin as well as the anal and caudal fins is translucent marked with a scattering of small brownish red spots on the rays. The

pelvic fin Pelvic fins or ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral (belly) surface of fish, and are the lower of the only two sets of paired fins (the other being the laterally positioned pectoral fins). The pelvic fins are homologous to the hi ...

is blackish. The maximum published length is , although a

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 is more typical.

Distribution and habitat

''Pterois mombasae'' is found in the Indian Ocean from the eastern African coast between Kenya and South Africa, Madagascar and the Madives, India and east as far as the

Andaman Sea The Andaman Sea (historically also known as the Burma Sea) is a marginal sea of the northeastern Indian Ocean bounded by the coastlines of Myanmar and Thailand along the Gulf of Martaban and the west side of the Malay Peninsula, and separated f ...

. It is a rare inhabitant of rocky bottoms on deep offshore reefs and is usually found on soft-bottom or muddy substrates with thick ridges of rubble amongst rich growths of invertebrates, particularly sponges.

References

External links

*
Encyclopedia of Life
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2359431 mombasae Fish of the Indian Ocean Marine fish of Southern Africa Taxa named by J. L. B. Smith Fish described in 1957