''Bovichtus'' 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 ...

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

in 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 ...

Bovichtidae Bovichtidae, the temperate icefishes or thornfishes, is a family of marine ray-finned fishes, classified in the suborder Notothenioidei of the order Perciformes. They are native to coastal waters off Australia, New Zealand, and South America ...

found in the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

, 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

''Bovichtus'' was formally described as a genus in 1832 by the French

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 ...

Achille Valenciennes Achille Valenciennes (9 August 1794 – 13 April 1865) was a French zoology, zoologist. Valenciennes was born in Paris, and studied under Georges Cuvier. His study of parasitic worms in humans made an important contribution to the study of parasi ...

with ''Callionymus diacanthus'', which had been described by the

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 ...

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

and officer in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

Dugald Carmichael in 1819 with the type locality given as

Tristan da Cunha Tristan da Cunha (), colloquially Tristan, is a remote group of volcano, volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is one of three constituent parts of the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascensi ...

in the South Atlantic, as the

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 ...

. The name of the genus, ''Bovichtus'', is derived from meaning "bull" and ' which means fish, based on the local name for ''Bovichtus'' species in Valparaiso, Chile, ''torito'', meaning "little bull".

Species

There are currently 8 recognized species in this genus: * '' Bovichtus angustifrons'' Regan, 1913 * '' Bovichtus argentinus'' MacDonagh, 1931 * '' Bovichtus chilensis'' Regan, 1913 * '' Bovichtus diacanthus'' ( Carmichael, 1819) * '' Bovichtus oculus''

Hardy Hardy may refer to: People * Hardy (surname) * Hardy (given name) * Hardy (singer), American singer-songwriter Places Antarctica * Mount Hardy, Enderby Land * Hardy Cove, Greenwich Island * Hardy Rocks, Biscoe Islands Australia * Hardy, ...

, 1989 * '' Bovichtus psychrolutes'' Günther, 1860 (Scaled thornfish) Balushkin, A.V. (2016): Systematics of the Antarctic Thornfishes of the Genus ''Bovichtus'' (Bovichtidae) of the Seamounts of the New Zealand Basin. ''Journal of Ichthyology, 56 (5): 631-638.'' * '' Bovichtus variegatus'' ( J. Richardson, 1846) (Thornfish) * '' Bovichtus veneris'' Sauvage, 1879 A genetic review of the South American species found that ''B. argentinus'' and the specimens claimed to be of "''B. diacanthus''" collected off South America were all the same species, the oldest name for which would be ''B. chilensis'', this includes ''B. elongatus'' of the Antarctic as a synonym of ''B. chilensis''. This does not appear to have been widely accepted.

Characteristics

Bovichtus fishes have a terminal, protractile mouth with teeth on the

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.

. There is a robust backwards pointing spine on the operculum. They have a single

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelia ...

and the anterior dorsal fin is spiny and starts above the operculum. The soft rays in the posterior dorsal fin and 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 ...

are simple, the rear most anal fin rays are thickened and longer than the front rays. If they have any scales, they are restricted to an isolated patch to the rear of the base of 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. They are normally mottled in colour and their gill membranes direct the exiting water upwards, an adaptation for a sedentary benthic lifestyle. In the pectoral fins the lowest rays are unbranched with a thick cuticle, extend a little beyond the membrane and have upturned tips, the rearmost anal fin rays are also structured like this. This is apparently convergent with the unrelated blennies of the subfamily Blenniinae and may be an adaptation for clinging on to surfaces. Any scales present ate cteniod.

Distribution and habitat

Bovichtus fishes are found in the temperate and Antarctic waters of the Southern Hemisphere. They occur along both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of southern South American, off the

Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martin in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctica. ...

in the South Atlantic Ile St Paul in the southern Indian Ocean, southern Australia,

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

, New Zealand, the Campbell Plateau and on seamounts to the east of New Zealand in the southern Pacific. One species, ''B. oculus'' is found in deep waters on the Campbell Plateau while all of the remaining species have their adult form as benthic dwellers on rocky reefs in shallow waters or in tidal or inter-tidal pools.

Biology

''Bovichtus'' are mainly

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". ...

species, waiting on the substrate to ambush prey and have been seen perched underneath or upside down on surfaces, presumably using their adapted pectoral and anal fins to grip with. Their diet is made up of invertebrates, mainly crustaceans and worms. At least one species has a pelagic larval phase which allows for dispersal and may account for the relatively wide distribution of the genus compared to the other two genera in the family Bovichtidae.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5257980 Bovichtidae Marine fish genera Taxa named by Achille Valenciennes