''Banjos banjos'', the banjofish, is a species of marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or h ...

from the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Banjosidae ''Banjos'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fish, the only genus in the monotypy, monotypic Family (biology), family Banjosidae, part of the Perciformes, perciform Superfamily (biology), superfamily Percoidea They are native to the western Indian O ...

. This was formerly considered to be 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 "unispec ...

family of which the banjofish was the only species. However, in 2017, two new species of banjofish were described, the East Australian banjofish ('' B. aculeatus'') and the Timor Sea banjofish ('' B. peregrinus''). It has an

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

distribution.

Description

''Banjos banjos'' has a deep and strongly compressed body with a steep head and an almost straight dorsal profile. The

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through c ...

has 10 flattened spines and 12 soft rays while the

anal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as s ...

has 3 spines with the second being far longer the others, the anal fin also contains 7 soft rays. The

caudal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as s ...

is slightly emarginate, It has a compete and continuous lateral line. In colour it is silvery white to greyish-brown, fading towards the belly, the anterior part of the head is blackish with whitish lips. The second dorsal fin has a white margin and a sizeable, circular black blotch to the front. The caudal fin has a wide brown submarginal band. Smaller fishes show a number of ill-defined dark stripes on their flanks and a large black spot on the base of the tail. The maximum recorded

standard length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology. Overall length * Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish ...

is >

Distribution

''Banjos banjos'' is found in the Indo-West Pacific region from the south eastern Indian Ocean off

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...

through Indonesia and the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phil ...

to Japan.

Habitat and biology

''Banjos banjos'' is an inshore species which can be found at depths between .

Taxonomy

''Banjos banjos'' was first formally described as ''Anoplus banjos'' in 1846 by

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 Speciali ...

, naturalist and

arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada ( Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm ( Greenland), Finland, Iceland ...

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

Sir John Richardson (1797-1865) with the

type locality Type locality may refer to: * Type locality (biology) * Type locality (geology) See also * Local (disambiguation) * Locality (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...

given as the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...

. ''B. banjos'' was previously considered to be the only species in the family Banjosidae but in 2017 Matsunuma & Motomura described two new species, the East Australian banjofish (''

Banjos acuteatus The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

'') and the Timor Sea banjofish (''

Banjos peregrinus The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

'') and a new subspecies of ''B. banjos'' (see below). Abstract There are two recognised subspecies of ''Banjos banjos'': * ''

Banjos banjos banjos The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

'' (Richardson, 1846) - the nominate subspecies from the western Pacific * ''

Banjos banjos brevispinis The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

'' Matsunuma & Motomura, 2017 - from the Indian Ocean, called the Western Australian banjofish.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q806600 Banjosidae Marine fish of Northern Australia Marine fish of Western Australia Taxa named by John Richardson (naturalist) Fish described in 1846