''Bathyphylax'' is a

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 fishes Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class (biology), class of Osteichthyes, bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built ...

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 ...

Triacanthodidae, the spikefishes. The fishes in this genus are found in the deep waters of the Indian and

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

''Bathyphylax'' was first proposed as a

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 ...

in 1935 by 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 ...

George S. Myers when he described ''Bathyphylax bombifrons'', which he also designated 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 ...

. When Myers described ''B. bombifrons'' he gave its type locality given as the "China Sea" off

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. In 1968 the American ichthyologist James C. Tyler classified this genus in the

nominate Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to a public office, or the bestowing of an honor or award. A collection of nominees narrowed from the full list of candidates is a short list. Political office In th ...

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

of the family Triacanthodidae, the

Triacanthodinae Triacanthodinae is a subfamily of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Triacanthodidae, the spikefishes. This subfamily comprises nine genera and a total of nineteen species and all, except one species, are found in the tropical an ...

. The 5th edition of ''

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' is a standard reference for the systematics of fishes. It was first written in 1976 by the American ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011). Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of t ...

'' classifies the family Triacanthodidae 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 ...

Triacanthoidei Triacanthoidei is a suborder of ray-finned fishes belonging to the order Tetraodontiformes, which includes the pufferfishes, triggerfishes and related taxa. These benthic fishes are mainly found in the Indian Ocean with some of the spikefishes fou ...

in the order Tetraodontiformes.

Etymology

''Bathyphylax'' is a compound of ''bathy'', meaning "deep", and ''phylax'', which means "guard", an allusion which Myers did not explain but it may refer to the depth the

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

of ''B. bombifrons'' was collected at and its large eyes, metaphorically all seeing. 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 ...

of the type species combines ''bombus'', meaning "humming" or "buzzing" with ''frons'', which means "forehead". This is an allusion to the tube-like snout, resembling a wind instrument. The specific ephithets of the other two species are; ''omen'', which means "prophecy" or "augury", and refers to the species so named being a "precursor" of the longs snouted ''

Halimochirurgus ''Halimochirurgus'' is a genus of Marine life, marine Actinopterygii, ray-finned fishes belonging to the Family (biology), family Spikefish, Triacanthodidae, the spikefishes. The fishes in this genus are found in the deep waters of the Indian Oce ...

''; and the

eponym An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

''pruvosti'', which honours

Patrice Pruvost Patrice is a given name meaning ''noble'' or '' patrician'', related to the names Patrick and Patricia. In English, Patrice is often a feminine first name. In French, it is used as a masculine first name. Popularity In the United States, the popul ...

who was the manager of the ichthyological collection at

Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History ( ; abbr. MNHN) is the national natural history museum of France and a of higher education part of Sorbonne University. The main museum, with four galleries, is located in Paris, France, within the Ja ...

in Paris who mad e material form the museum's collection available to the species author, Frenceso Santini.

Species

There are currently three recognized

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), ...

in this genus: * '' Bathyphylax bombifrons'' G. S. Myers, 1934 (Boomer spikefish) * ''

Bathyphylax omen ''Bathyphylax'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Triacanthodidae, the spikefishes. The fishes in this genus are found in the deep waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Taxonomy ''Bathyphylax'' was first propos ...

'' J. C. Tyler, 1966 * ''

Bathyphylax pruvosti ''Bathyphylax'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Triacanthodidae, the spikefishes. The fishes in this genus are found in the deep waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Taxonomy ''Bathyphylax'' was first propos ...

Santini Santini is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include: * André Santini (born 1940), French politician * Bob Santini (born 1932), American former professional basketball player * Brandon Santini (born 1982), American blues harmon ...

, 2006

Characteristics

''Bathphylax'' spike fishes have a flat lower surface to the pelvis, the pelvis tapers to a point to the rear being much broader between the spines of the pelvic fins and at its rear, this feature places the genus in the subfamily Triacanthodinae, and it is around twice as long as it is wide. They have a snout which is shorter than the length of the head and of the diameter of the orbit but the smout is longer than the distance between the upper eye and the gill cover. They have conical teeth arranged in a singlet series without any isolated inner teeth. In 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 ...

the spines decrease in length suddentlu with the rear spines being much smaller than the front spines with the fifth and sixth spines just protruding through the skin, although they can be clearly seen, when the first spine is depressed it extends as far as thetip of the sixth. The dorsal profile of the head is concave. These fishes have 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 ...

s of for ''B. bombifrons'', for ''B. omen'' and for ''B. pruvosti''.

Distribution and habitat

Bathyphylax spike fishes are found in the

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 ...

region with ''B. bombifrons'' being known from waters off Kenya, off Hng Kong, Australia and

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 ...

, ''B. omen'' has only been recorded from off Kenya and off Japan, while ''B. pruvosti'' from the

Marquesas Islands The Marquesas Islands ( ; or ' or ' ; Marquesan language, Marquesan: ' (North Marquesan language, North Marquesan) and ' (South Marquesan language, South Marquesan), both meaning "the land of men") are a group of volcano, volcanic islands in ...

. These

bathydemersal Demersal fish, also known as groundfish, live and feed on or near the bottom of ocean, seas or lakes (the demersal zone).Walrond Carl . "Coastal fish - Fish of the open sea floor"Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 2 March 2009 T ...

species have been recorded at depths between .

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q195838 Triacanthodinae Taxa named by George S. Myers Fish genera