The barred fingerfin (''Cheilodactylus pixi'') 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 ...

, belonging to 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 ...

Cheilodactylidae Cheilodactylidae , commonly called morwongs but also known as butterfish, fingerfins, jackassfish, sea carp, snappers, and moki, is a family of marine ray-finned fish. They are found in subtropical oceans in the Southern Hemisphere. The common ...

, commonly referred to as morwongs. It is found only in the southeastern Atlantic and southwestern Indian Oceans off the coasts of South Africa.

Taxonomy

The barred fingerfin was first formally described in 1980 by the South African

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, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of October ...

Margaret Mary Smith Margaret Mary Smith (née MacDonald) was born on 26 September 1916 in Indwe, Eastern Cape, a small village on the border of the Transkei. She was an ichthyologist, accomplished fish illustrator, and an academic. Early life Margaret Mary Smith ...

with the

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

given as off the mouth of the

Kowie River The Kowie River (Coyi in Xhosa) is a river in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It has its source in the hills of the "Grahamstown Heights" from where it flows in a south-easterly direction draining the major part of the Bathurst region, reaching ...

in the Eastern Cape in South Africa. Phylogenetic analyses and genetic studies of the morwongs have not supported the traditional arrangement of the families Cheilodactylidae and

Latridae Latridae commonly called trumpeters, is a family of marine ray-finned fish. They are found in temperate seas in the Southern Hemisphere. The classification of the species within the Latridae and the related Cheilodactylidae is unclear.They are ...

. This has led to some authorities suggesting that the majority of species in Cheilodactylidae should be placed in Latridae. A result of this rearrangement is that the only species which would remain in Cheilodactylidae are this species and '' C. fasciatus'', both from

southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number ...

. This is because these analyses resolved the genus ''Cheilodactylus'' as

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of conver ...

. These studies appear to show that most of the species in ''Cheilodactylus'' ''

sensu lato ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular c ...

'' instead apparently to belong in several different genera and are not even members of the same family, but how many and their exact delimitation is not clear at present. The outlier species have been assigned to '' Chirodactylus'', ''

Goniistius ''Goniistius'' is a subgenus of marine ray-finned fishes, traditionally classified as being within the genus '' Cheilodactylus'' and belonging to the family Cheilodactylidae, known as morwongs, although this name is not unique to this family and ...

'', '' Morwong'' and ''

Pseudogoniistius The magpie perch (''Cheilodactylus (Pseudogoniistius) nigripes''), magpie morwong or black-striped morwong, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, traditionally regarded as belonging to the family Cheilodactylidae, the members of which are common ...

'', but DNA and morphologic analyses found those species to be nested within

and more derived than the kelpfish,

marblefish ''Aplodactylus'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes, commonly known as marblefishes or sea carps. It is the only genus in the monogeneric family, Aplodactylidae. The fishes in this genus are found in the south eastern Indian Ocean and the ...

and this species. The specific name honours Pixie John who lived in

Port Alfred A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...

and sent the

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the ...

to Smith.

Description

The barred fingerfin has a weakly pointed snout and a concave ventral 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 ...

contains 18-20 spines and 19-23 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 and 8-11 soft rays. This species attains a maximum total length of . The overall colour of the ody is pale grey with a speckling of pale brown spots and overlain with four clear, diagonal brown bars. There is a fifth more indistinct bar to the back of the head extending to the base of the pectoral fins. The colour of the fins is translucent orange.

Distribution and habitat

The barred fingerfin is endemic to South Africa where it is found from the

False Bay False Bay ( Afrikaans ''Valsbaai'') is a body of water in the Atlantic Ocean between the mountainous Cape Peninsula and the Hottentots Holland Mountains in the extreme south-west of South Africa. The mouth of the bay faces south and is dema ...

Coffee Bay Coffee Bay ( af, Koffiebaai) is a town on the Wild Coast of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is located about 250 kilometres south of the city of Durban and has a population of 258 people. The town is named after the hundreds of coff ...

KwaZulu Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is loca ...

. This species can be found along rocky coastlines and on offshore rocky reefs at depths of .

Biology

The barred fingerfin feeds on benthic invertebrates. It is a solitary species which is often observed perched on the reef in the daylight hours. It is known to be preyed upon by the

copper shark The copper shark (''Carcharhinus brachyurus''), bronze whaler, or narrowtooth shark, is a species of requiem shark, family Carcharhinidae, and the only member of its genus found mostly at temperate latitudes. It is distributed in a number of sep ...

(''Carcharhinus brachyurus'') and the

sharptooth houndshark The sharptooth houndshark, or spotted gully shark (''Triakis megalopterus'') is a species of houndshark in the family Triakidae found in shallow inshore waters from southern Angola to South Africa. Favoring sandy areas near rocky reefs and gullie ...

(''Triakis megalopterus''). Barred Fingerfin at Rocky bank P9205402

References

* * G M Branch, C L Griffiths, M L Branch, & L E Beckley, ''Two Oceans, A Guide to the Marine Life of Southern Africa'', (David Philip Publishers (Pty) Ltd, Claremont, South Africa 1994) * Smith, Margaret M. 1980
''Ichthyological Bulletin; No. 42: A review of the South African Cheilodactylid fishes (Pisces: Perciformes), with descriptions of two new species''
J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology, Rhodes University 1980 {{Taxonbar, from=Q2739458

barred fingerfin The barred fingerfin (''Cheilodactylus pixi'') is a species of marine ray-finned fish, belonging to the family Cheilodactylidae, commonly referred to as morwongs. It is found only in the southeastern Atlantic and southwestern Indian Oceans off the ...

Marine fish of South Africa Endemic fish of South Africa Taxa named by Margaret Mary Smith