Bembridae, the deep-water flatheads, are a

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 ...

of bottom-dwelling

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 ...

es. They are found in the Indian and western Pacific Oceans.

Taxonomy

Bembridae was first proposed as a family in 1873 by the German

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

Johann Jakob Kaup Johann Jakob von Kaup (10 April 1803 – 4 July 1873) was a German naturalist. A proponent of natural philosophy, he believed in an innate mathematical order in nature and he attempted biological classifications based on the Quinarian system. Kaup ...

. 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 this family within 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 ...

Platycephaloidei Platycephaloidei is a suborder of ray-finned fishes, part of the Order (biology), order Scorpaeniformes, and includes the Platycephalidae, flatheads, ghost flatheads and Triglidae, sea robins. Taxonomy Platycephaloidei was first recognised and n ...

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 ...

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 ...

. Other authorities differ and do not consider the Scorpaeniformes to be a valid order because the

Perciformes Perciformes (), also called the Acanthopteri, is an order or superorder of ray-finned fish in the clade Percomorpha. ''Perciformes'' means " perch-like". Among the well-known members of this group are perches and darters ( Percidae), and als ...

is not

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

without the taxa within the Scorpaeniformes being included within it. These authorities consider the Bembridae to belong to the

, along with the families Parabembridae, Hoplichthyidae,

Platycephalidae The Platycephalidae are a Family (biology), family of marine ray-finned fish, most commonly referred to as flatheads. They are relatives of the lionfish, and belong to the order Perciformes. Taxonomy Platycephalidae was first proposed as a famil ...

and Plectrogeniidae within the Perciformes. This family is thought to be more primitive than their close relatives, the true flatheads. Despite the common name, their heads are only slightly flattened and have spiny ridges.

Genera

Bembridae contains 5 recognised genera: * '' Bambradon'' D.S. Jordan & R.E. Richardson, 1908 * '' Bembradium'' Gilbert, 1905 * '' Bembras'' Cuvier, 1829 * '' Brachybembras'' Fowler. 1938 * ''

Parabembras ''Parabembras'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the Family (biology), family Bembridae, the deepwater flatheads, although they are sufficiently different from the other genera in that family to be classified as their own family, ...

'' Bleeker, 1874 Other authorities classify the genus ''Parabembras'' within 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 ...

family Parabembridae and place ''Bembradium'' in the family Plectrogeniidae.

Etymology

Bembridae derives its name from its

type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus (''genus typica'') is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearin ...

''Bembras'' which was coined by the French

Georges Cuvier in 1829 but he did not explain its etymology. However, it is thought that it may come from an ancient Greek word for some sort of small fish, such as anchovy,

sprat Sprat is the common name applied to a group of forage fish belonging to the genus ''Sprattus'' in the Family (biology), family Clupeidae. The term also is applied to a number of other small sprat-like forage fish (''Clupeoides'', ''Clupeonella ...

or smelt. which at least dates as far back as

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

. Cuvier applied this type of name to other genera he put forward, such as '' Synodontis'', '' Salanx'' or '' Premnas''.

Characteristics

Benbridae deepwater flatheads have large, flattened heads with elongated subcylindrical bodies which have not spiny scutes. The eyes are moderately large without an iris lapit or ocular flaps. The infraorbital bones form a clear, robust ridge, joining the uppermost preopercular spine and has between 4 and 6 spines on it. The spines on the head are short to moderate with between 8 and 11 above the eye. There are two separate dorsal fins, the first contains between 6 and 12 spines and the second between 8 and 12 soft rays while there are 3 spines 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 ...

. There are no separate rays in the pectoral fins. Although the colour is typically red red, orange, or light brown; some species have green, dark green or blackish spotting or blotching on their body and fins and the anal fin may be almost black. The deepwater flatheads range in size from '' Bembradium roseum'', 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 , to the bigscale flathead ('' Bembras macrolepis''), which reaches a standard length of .

Distribution and habitat

Bembridae deep-water flatheads have an Indo-Pacific distribution and are mainly found in the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...

, the

Gulf of Aden The Gulf of Aden (; ) is a deepwater gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channel, the Socotra Archipelago, Puntland in Somalia and Somaliland to the south. ...

, and the waters near Southern Indonesia and Australia. These are benthic fishes of the

continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an islan ...

at depths of .

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1806118 Taxa named by Johann Jakob Kaup Perciformes families