''Bambradon'' is a

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 ...

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 ...

Bembridae Bembridae, the deep-water flatheads, are a family of bottom-dwelling ray-finned fishes. They are found in the Indian and western Pacific Oceans. Taxonomy Bembridae was first proposed as a family in 1873 by the German zoologist Johann Jakob Kaup ...

, the deepwater flatheads. Its only species, ''Bambradon laevis'', is found in the northwestern Pacific Ocean off Japan.

Taxonomy

''Bambradon'' has a single species, ''B' laevis'' which was first formally described in 1887 as ''Bembras laevis'' by the Swedish

veterinarian A veterinarian (vet) or veterinary surgeon is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, veterinarians also play a role in animal r ...

Edvard Nyström in his publication of the collection of fishes from Japan held in the zoological museum of

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

with its type locality given as

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

. In 1908 the American

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 ...

David Starr Jordan David Starr Jordan (January 19, 1851 – September 19, 1931) was the founding president of Stanford University, serving from 1891 to 1913. He was an ichthyologist during his research career. Prior to serving as president of Stanford Universi ...

and

Robert Earl Richardson Robert Earl Richardson (28 November 1877 – 14 April 1935) was an American aquatic biologist and ichthyologist. Richardson was born in Brighton, Illinois, on 28 November 1877. His father was Robert and his mother was Emily Dickerson Richardson. H ...

placed ''B. laevis'' in the monotypic genus ''Bambradon'' within the family Bembridae. The genus name is an

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

word for a type of small fish, thought to be applied by Jordan and Richardson to emulate

Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, baron Cuvier (23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier (; ), was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuv ...

’s etymology for '' Bembras''. The specific name ''laevis'' means "smooth", alluding to the smooth top of the head of this species, lacking spines and ridges.

Description

''Bambradon'' has 6 spines in the first

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 14 soft rays in the second dorsal fin while 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 ...

has 15 soft rays. The upper side of head shows a complete absence of spines and ridges. It has a more elongated body than the sympatric '' Bembras japonicus'' with its depth being a tenth of its

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

. The large ates are about a quarter of the length of the head and they are separated by a thin intraorbital space. It has rather a long snout, approximately three times as long as the head. The lower jaw protrudes significantly beyond the maxilla and the mouth opening stretches back not quite to the centre of the eye. The head, apart from the upper and middle jaw, is covered with quite large scales. There are 3 long ridges ending in small spines on the operculum and the

preoperculum This glossary of ichthyology is a list of definitions of terms and concepts used in ichthyology, the study of fishes. A B C ...

has 2 small spines at its angle there is a further small spine on the scapula. The fine, comb-like teeth are on the jaws,

vomer 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 ...

and

palatine A palatine or palatinus (Latin; : ''palatini''; cf. derivative spellings below) is a high-level official attached to imperial or royal courts in Europe since Roman Empire, Roman times.

. The first dorsal fin is quite high, its spines are weak and flexible with the second spine being the longest, its length slightly greater than the depth of the body. The second dorsal fin is rather higher the first soft ray is the longest, with the 4th and 5th soft rays being the shortest and from then backwards they become longer. The anal fin is slightly longer than the two dorsal fins. The

pectoral fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish aquatic locomotion, swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the vertebral column ...

s are quite short and extend to, or just to the rear of, the anal fin origin. There are 23 fin rays in the pectoral fin. The shorter

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 ...

s are located quite far to the front of the front of the pectoral fins, just behind angle of the preoperculum. The overall colour is brownish marked with a line of darker spots along lower edge of body. the ventral body is nearly white. The first dorsal fin has a black spot at its front and the second dorsal fin appears to have horizontal dark stripes or spots arranged in rows, however, these are difficult to discern as the fin membranes are missing on the examined specimens. The

caudal 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 only ...

has a round black spot at its upper base and a pair of faint diagonal bars. The anal fin is bright with a dark band at the base, the pectoral fins are brown and unmarked while the pelvic fins white.

Distribution and habitat

''Bambradon'' is a deep water, demersal species of the northwestern Pacific Ocean off Japan.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q18595424, from2=Q13434323 Bembridae Taxa named by David Starr Jordan Fish described in 1887