The dusky velvetfish (''Aploactis aspera'') is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

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 ...

, a

velvetfish Little velvetfishes or simply velvetfishes are a Family (biology), family, the Aploactinidae, of marine ray-finned fishes classified within the order Scorpaeniformes. They are small fish that have skin with a velvet texture. They live on the sea ...

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 ...

Aploactinidae Little velvetfishes or simply velvetfishes are a family, the Aploactinidae, of marine ray-finned fishes classified within the order Scorpaeniformes. They are small fish that have skin with a velvet texture. They live on the sea bottom close to t ...

. It 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 "unisp ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

''Aploactis''. This species is found in the western

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

Taxonomy

The dusky velvetfish was first formally described in 1843 as ''Synanceia aspera'' by the

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

naval surgeon A naval surgeon, or less commonly ship's doctor, is the person responsible for the health of the ship's company aboard a warship. The term appears often in reference to Royal Navy's medical personnel during the Age of Sail. Ancient uses Specialis ...

Arctic explorer Arctic exploration is the physical exploration of the Arctic region of the Earth. It refers to the historical period during which mankind has explored the region north of the Arctic Circle. Historical records suggest that humankind have explored ...

and

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

John Richardson with the type locality given as "Seas of Japan", the

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...

being collected during the voyage of HMS Sulphur. In 1843

Temminck Coenraad Jacob Temminck (; 31 March 1778 – 30 January 1858) was a Dutch patrician, zoologist and museum director. Biography Coenraad Jacob Temminck was born on 31 March 1778 in Amsterdam in the Dutch Republic. From his father, Jacob ...

and

Schlegel Schlegel is a German occupational surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Anthony Schlegel (born 1981), American football player * August Wilhelm Schlegel (1767–1845), German poet, brother of Friedrich * Brad Schlegel (born 1968), C ...

had described a new

subgenus In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

of the stonefish genus ''

Synanceia ''Synanceia'' is a genus of ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Synanceiinae, the stonefish, which is classified within the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfish and relatives. Stonefish are the most venomous fish known; stings can be f ...

'', ''Aploactis'', and Richardson had named his new species this subgenus. Subsequently, only the dusky velvetfish was retained within ''Aploactis'' and this was eventually recognised as a valid genus and Richardson had designated ''S. aspera'' as its

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, 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 spe ...

in 1844. This taxon is

classified Classified may refer to: General *Classified information, material that a government body deems to be sensitive *Classified advertising or "classifieds" Music *Classified (rapper) (born 1977), Canadian rapper * The Classified, a 1980s American ro ...

within the family Aploactinidae in the

suborder Order () 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 recognized ...

Scorpaenoidei Scorpaenoidei is a suborder of Actinopterygii, ray-finned fishes, part of the Order (biology), order Perciformes, that includes the scorpionfishes, lionfishes and velvetfishes. This suborder is at its most diverse in the Pacific and Indian Oceans ...

within the order

Scorpaeniformes The Scorpaeniformes are a diverse Order (biology), order of Actinopterygii, ray-finned fish, including the lionfishes and sculpins, but have also been called the Scleroparei. It is one of the five largest orders of bony fishes by number of spec ...

, although this family is also treated as a subfamily of the

stonefish ''Synanceia'' is a genus of Actinopterygii, ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Synanceiinae, the stonefish, which is Taxonomy (biology), classified within the Family (biology), family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfish and relatives. Stone ...

family

Synanceiidae Synanceiinae is a subfamily of Venom, venomous ray-finned fishes, waspfishes, which is classification of life, classified as part of the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes and their relatives. These fishes are found in the Indo-Pacific ocean ...

within the Scorpaenoidei, which in turn is treated as a

superfamily SUPERFAMILY is a database and search platform of structural and functional annotation for all proteins and genomes. It classifies amino acid sequences into known structural domains, especially into SCOP superfamilies. Domains are functional, str ...

within the order Perciformes. The name of the genus, ''Aploactis'' is a compound of "haplo" meaning "single" or "simple", and ''actis'', meaning "ray", presumed to refer to the simple, unbranched soft rays of the fins. 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 ...

''aspera'' means "rough", an allusion to the velvety prickles in the ody of this fish.

Description

The dusky velvetfish has an elongate, compressed body. There are 2 blunt lacrimal spines, 5 preopercular spines with the smallest being the lowest. It has

vomerine teeth The vomer (; ) 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 maxillary bones. The vomer forms t ...

. The origin of the

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 ...

origin is over the rear margin of the eye. The head and body are covered with prickles which are under the skin. The colour of the body is light brown to dark brown marked with small white and dark spots. There are 13 or 14 spines and 11 to 15 soft rays in the dorsal fin and a single spine and between 11 and 14 soft rays in 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 ...

. The maximum published total length for the dusky velvetfish is .

Distribution and habitat

The dusky velvetfish is found in the Western Pacific Ocean and the Eastern Indian Ocean where it has been recorded from Japan, China,

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

and Australia, In Australia it is found from Shark Bay to Rowlet Shoals in Western Australia and from Cape York in Queensland to Sydney in New South Wales. The

demersal The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean (or deep lake) consisting of the part of the water column near to (and significantly affected by) the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a layer o ...

species is found in inshore waters of the continental shelf on sandy or mud bottoms in shallow waters.

References

{{Taxonbar, from= Q2609025, from2=Q665681 Aploactinidae Fish described in 1845 Taxa named by John Richardson (naturalist) Taxa named by Coenraad Jacob Temminck Taxa named by Hermann Schlegel