''Bodianus darwini'' is a species of

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 ...

native to the tropical eastern

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 ...

. Common names include the Chilean sheepshead wrasse, the goldspot sheepshead or the Galapagos sheepshead wrasse.

Taxonomy

Traditionally it was placed in the genus ''

Semicossyphus ''Bodianus'' is a genus of fish in the family (biology), family of wrasses, the Labridae, which are Common name, commonly known as hogfishes. They are found in the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean. These species h ...

'', until molecular phylogenetics found that ''Semicossyphus'' should be lumped into ''Bodianus'', as ''Semicossyphus'' was nested deep within ''Bodianus''.

Description

This is a large wrasse, with a maximum length of . The dorsal fin has twelve spines and ten soft rays while the anal fin has three spines and twelve soft rays.

Distribution and habitat

''S. darwini'' is native to the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean. Its range includes the

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands () are an archipelago of volcanic islands in the Eastern Pacific, located around the equator, west of the mainland of South America. They form the Galápagos Province of the Republic of Ecuador, with a population of sli ...

and on the coast of South America, extends from Ecuador southward through Peru to northern Chile. It is normally found among

seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of ''Rhodophyta'' (red), '' Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...

, including deep-water

kelp forest Kelp forests are underwater areas with a high density of kelp, which covers a large part of the world's coastlines. Smaller areas of anchored kelp are called kelp beds. They are recognized as one of the most productive and dynamic ecosystems on E ...

s, and its depth range is from .

Ecology

The strong sharp teeth provide evidence of its diet as a

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning "the depths". ...

predator Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common List of feeding behaviours, feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation ...

, and this is confirmed by the stomach contents which include fragments of shells and other coarse calcareous debris as well as

detritus In biology, detritus ( or ) is organic matter made up of the decomposition, decomposing remains of organisms and plants, and also of feces. Detritus usually hosts communities of microorganisms that colonize and decomposition, decompose (Reminera ...

. Other large carnivorous fish dwelling in the kelp forest include the Peruvian morwong (''Cheilodactylus variegatus''), the Chilean sandperch '' Pinguipes chilensis'', the sea chub '' Graus nigra'', and the cabrilla (''Sebastes oculatus''). These fish are preyed on by the

marine otter The marine otter (''Lontra felina'') is a rare and relatively unknown South American mammal of the weasel family (Mustelidae). The scientific name means "feline otter", and in Spanish, the marine otter is also often referred to as : "marine c ...

(''Lutra felina'') and the

South American sea lion The South American sea lion (''Otaria flavescens'', formerly ''Otaria byronia''), also called the southern sea lion and the Patagonian sea lion, is a sea lion found on the western and southeastern coasts of South America. It is the Monotypic ta ...

(''Otaria flavescens'').

Status

''S. darwini'' is caught for food throughout its range and is fished commercially in the Galápagos Islands. It is a large, and probably a slow-growing, fish which makes it vulnerable to over exploitation. There was a decline of 80% in the Galapagos populations during the 1997–1998

El Niño EL, El or el may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * El, a character from the manga series ''Shugo Chara!'' by Peach-Pit * Eleven (''Stranger Things'') (El), a fictional character in the TV series ''Stranger Things'' * El, fami ...

event, but the fish stock recovered in the following year, making it likely that the fish had moved to deeper water during the adverse conditions. The

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

considers that there is not enough evidence to assess the conservation status of this fish and has rated it as "

data deficient A data deficient (DD) species is one which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as offering insufficient information for a proper assessment of conservation status to be made. This does not necessaril ...

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q2512341 Semicossyphus Fish of the Pacific Ocean Fish of Chile Fish described in 1842 Taxa named by Leonard Jenyns