The yellowtail croaker (''Austronibea oedogenys''), also known as the yellowtail jewfish, 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 ...

Sciaenidae Sciaenidae is a family (biology), family of ray-finned fishes belonging to the Order (biology), order Acanthuriformes. They are commonly called drums or croakers in reference to the repetitive throbbing or drumming sounds they make. The family co ...

, the drums and croakers. This species is found in the southwestern Pacific Ocean off northern Australia and southern

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

. It is the only species in the

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 ...

''Austronibea''.

Taxonomy

The yellowtail croaker was first formally described in 1977 by the English

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 ...

Ethelwynn Trewavas Ethelwynn Trewavas (5 November 1900 – 16 August 1993) was an ichthyologist at the British Museum of Natural History. She was known for her work on the families Cichlidae and Sciaenidae. She worked with Charles Tate Regan, another ichthy ...

with its type locality given as

Repulse Bay Repulse Bay or Tsin Shui Wan is a bay in the southern part of Hong Kong Island, located in the Southern District, Hong Kong, Southern District, Hong Kong. It is one of the most expensive residential areas in the world. Geography Repulse B ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. When she described the new species Trevawas classified it in the new monospecific genus ''Austronibea''. This fish belongs to the family Sciaenidae in 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 ...

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

''Austronibea'', the genus name. prefixes ''austro'', meaning "southern", to ''

Nibea ''Nibea'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Sciaenidae, the drums and croakers. The species in this genus are found in the Indo-West Pacific region. Taxonomy ''Nibea'' was first proposed as a genus in 1911 by the Ame ...

'', a genus Trevawas said bore some resemblance to this one in the form of its

swim bladder The swim bladder, gas bladder, fish maw, or air bladder is an internal gas-filled organ (anatomy), organ in bony fish that functions to modulate buoyancy, and thus allowing the fish to stay at desired water depth without having to maintain lift ...

and skeletal features. 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 ...

, ''oedogenys'', means "swollen cheek", an allusion to "the

orbital bone In anatomy, the orbit is the cavity or socket/hole of the skull in which the eye and its appendages are situated. "Orbit" can refer to the bony socket, or it can also be used to imply the contents. In the adult human, the volume of the orbit is ...

being swollen by the

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelia ...

canal".

Description

The yellowtail croaker is a relatively small species of croaker which has a maximum published

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 , although is more typical. It has a swollen, pointed snout which clearly protrudes in from of the upper jaw of the inferior mouth. The jaws each have rows of large and small teeth, the larger teeth forming the outer row in the upper jaw and the inner row in the lower jaw. 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 ...

has 10, sometimes 9, spines in front of the incision and a single spine and between 27 and 30 soft rays to the rear of the incision. 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 ...

is supported by 2 spines and 7 soft rays. The caudal fin is a rhomboid shape. There are cycloid scales on the head and throat while ctenoid scales cover the other parts of body with small scales present on the soft-rayed part of the dorsal fin. The

scales extend to the tip of the caudal fin. They have a carrot shaped swim bladder which has around 20 pairs of fan-like appendages along its sides, the first pair enters the head. The body is dark purplish, fading to silvery ventrally. The scales on the sides have orange edges and there is a bluish-green blotch on the operculum. The caudal fin is yellow with a dense pattern of small brown spots.

Distribution and habitat

The yellowtail croaker occurs across tropical northern Australia, from

Joseph Bonaparte Gulf Joseph Bonaparte Gulf is a large body of water off the coast of the Northern Territory and Western Australia and part of the Timor Sea. It was named after Joseph Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon and King of Naples (1806–1808) and then Spain (18 ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, to the Fitzroy River in Queensland, and along the southern coast of New Guinea in the

Sahul Shelf Geology, Geologically, the Sahul Shelf () is a part of the continental shelf of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, lying off the northwest coast of mainland Australia. Etymology The name "Sahull" or "Sahoel" appeared on 17th c ...

region. It has also been recorded from

Ambon Island Ambon Island is part of the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. The island has an area of and is mountainous, well watered, and fertile. Ambon Island consists of two territories: the city of Ambon, Maluku, Ambon to the south, and three districts (''k ...

and Timor Leste. This species is found at depths between in shallow coastal waters in estuaries over substrates made up of sand, rocks, rubble, soft corals and

black coral Antipatharians, also known as black corals or thorn corals, are an order of soft deep-water corals. These corals can be recognized by their jet-black or dark brown chitin skeletons, which are surrounded by their colored polyps (part of coral th ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q1889131, from2=Q2614809 Sciaenidae Fish described in 1977 Taxa named by Ethelwynn Trewavas