Anthias are members of the family Anthiadidae in the order

Perciformes Perciformes (), also called the Acanthopteri, is an order or superorder of ray-finned fish in the clade Percomorpha. ''Perciformes'' means " perch-like". Among the well-known members of this group are perches and darters ( Percidae), and als ...

. The group has also been called Anthiidae or Anthiinae, but these names are preoccupied by a subfamily of ground beetles in the family

Carabidae Ground beetles are a large, cosmopolitan family of beetles, the Carabidae, with more than 40,000 species worldwide, around 2,000 of which are found in North America and 2,700 in Europe. As of 2015, it is one of the 10 most species-rich animal ...

erected by Bonelli in 1813. Anthias are mostly small, thus are quite popular within the ornamental fish trade. They form complex social structures based on the number of males and females and also their position on the reef itself, and are mainly

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 ...

feeders. They occur in all

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

ocean The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of Earth. The ocean is conventionally divided into large bodies of water, which are also referred to as ''oceans'' (the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian, Southern Ocean ...

s and

sea A sea is a large body of salt water. There are particular seas and the sea. The sea commonly refers to the ocean, the interconnected body of seawaters that spans most of Earth. Particular seas are either marginal seas, second-order section ...

s of the world. The first species recognized in this group was described in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

and northeast

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

and was given name ''Anthias anthias'' by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

1758 Events January–March * January 1 – Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) publishes in Stockholm the first volume (''Animalia'') of the 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', the starting point of modern zoologic ...

. Anthias can

shoal In oceanography, geomorphology, and Earth science, geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank (geography), bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material, and rises from the bed of a body ...

by the thousands. Anthias do school in these large groups, though they tend toward more intimate subdivisions within the school, appropriately called "harems". These consist of one dominant, colorful male, and two to 12 females — which have their own hierarchy among them — and up to two 'subdominant' males, often less brightly colored and not territorial. Within the swarm of females, territorial males perform acrobatic U-swim displays and vigorously defend an area of the reef and its associated harem. Most anthias are protogynous

hermaphrodite A hermaphrodite () is a sexually reproducing organism that produces both male and female gametes. Animal species in which individuals are either male or female are gonochoric, which is the opposite of hermaphroditic. The individuals of many ...

s. These anthias are born female; if a dominant male perishes, the largest female of the group will often change into a male to take its place. This may lead to squabbling between the next-largest male, which sees an opportunity to advance, and the largest female, whose hormones are surging with testosterone. Seven genera of anthias are known to occur in coral reef ecosystems: '' Holanthias'', '' Luzonichthys'', '' Nemanthias'', '' Plectranthias'', '' Pseudanthias'', '' Rabaulichthys'', and '' Serranocirrhitus''. Members of all these genera make it into the

aquarium An aquarium (: aquariums or aquaria) is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. fishkeeping, Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquati ...

trade, although ''Pseudanthias'' is by far the most encountered in the hobby.

Genera

The following genera are classified within the family: * '' Acanthistius''

Gill A gill () is a respiration organ, respiratory organ that many aquatic ecosystem, aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow r ...

, 1862 * '' Anatolanthias'' Anderson, Parin & Randall, 1990 * '' Anthias''

Bloch Bloch is a surname of German origin. Notable people with this surname include: A *Adele Bloch-Bauer (1881–1925), Austrian entrepreneur *Albert Bloch (1882–1961), American painter *Alexandre Bloch (1857–1919), French painter *Alfred Bloch ( ...

, 1792 * '' Baldwinella'' Anderson & Heemstra, 2012 * '' Caesioperca'' Castelnau, 1872 * '' Caprodon'' Temminck & Schlegel, 1843 * '' Choranthias'' Anderson & Heemstra, 2012 * '' Dactylanthias'' Bleeker, 1871 * '' Epinephelides'' Ogilby, 1899 * '' Giganthias'' Katayama, 1954 * '' Hemanthias'' Steindachner, 1875 * '' Holanthias'' Günther 1868 * '' Hypoplectrodes'' Gill, 1862 * '' Lepidoperca'' Regan, 1914 * '' Luzonichthys'' Herre, 1936 * '' Meganthias'' Randall & Heemstra, 2006 * '' Nemanthias'' J.L.B. Smith, 1954 * '' Odontanthias'' Bleeker, 1873 * '' Othos'' Castelnau, 1875 * '' Plectranthias'' Bleeker, 1873 * '' Pronotogrammus'' Gill, 1863 * '' Pseudanthias'' Bleeker, 1871 * '' Rabaulichthys'' Allen, 1984 * '' Sacura''

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

& Richardson, 1910 * '' Selenanthias'' Tanaka, 1918 * '' Serranocirrhitus'' Watanabe, 1949 * '' Tosana'' H.M. Smith &

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

, 1906 * '' Tosanoides'' Kamohara, 1953 * '' Trachypoma'' Günther, 1859

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2011837 Perciformes families