Reeve's croaker (''Chrysochir aureus''), also known as the goldbelly croaker, golden corvina, yellowfin croaker or yellowfin corvina, is a species of marine

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 ...

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 ...

Sciaenidae Sciaenidae is a family (biology), family of ray-finned fishes belonging to the Order (biology), order Acanthuriformes. They are commonly called drums or croakers in reference to the repetitive throbbing or drumming sounds they make. The family co ...

, the drums and croakers. This species is found in the coastal waters of 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. It is the only species in the

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 ...

''Chrysochir''.

Taxonomy

Reeve's croaker was first formally described as ''Otolithus aureus'' by the Scottish

naval surgeon A naval surgeon, or less commonly ship's doctor, is the person responsible for the health of the ship's company aboard a warship. The term appears often in reference to Royal Navy's medical personnel during the Age of Sail. Ancient uses Specialis ...

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

and

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

John Richardson with its type locality given as

Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative divisions * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and entertainment * Canton (band), an It ...

in China. In 1966

Ethelwynn Trewavas Ethelwynn Trewavas (5 November 1900 – 16 August 1993) was an ichthyologist at the British Museum of Natural History. She was known for her work on the families Cichlidae and Sciaenidae. She worked with Charles Tate Regan, another ichthy ...

and G. M. Yazdani classified Reeve's croaker within the monospecific genus ''Chrysochir''. This species belongs to the family Sciaenidae 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 ...

Acanthuriformes Acanthuriformes is a large, diverse order of mostly marine ray-finned fishes, part of the Percomorpha clade. In the past, members of this clade were placed in the suborders Acanthuroidea and Percoidea of the order Perciformes, but this treatment ...

. ''Nibea acuta'' is treated as a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

of ''Chrysochir aureus'' in ''

FishBase FishBase is a global species database of fish species (specifically finfish). It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on adult finfish on the web.

'', but other authorities treat this taxon as a valid species.

Etymology

Reeve's croaker was described by Richardson based on a drawing by the naturalist John Reeves hence the English common name, although it should be Reeves's croaker. ''Chrysochir'', the genus name, is a compound of ''chrysos'', meaning "gold", and ''cheiros'', which means "hand", an allusion to the golden yellow

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 ...

of this species. 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 ...

''aureus'' means "golden" which is either a reference to the golden pectoral fin or is a Latin transliteration of its

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

names, "Gold scale hwo" and "Golden-scaled han".

Description

Reeve's croaker is a slender-bodies, medium sized species of sciaenid with a maximum published

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish measured f ...

of . It has an acutely pointed snout which projects in front of the upper jaw. The large mouth is almost horizontal with the upper jaw extending to below the rear margin of the eye. There are 3 pores on the upper snout and 5 along the sides and 3 pairs of mental pores. There are large and small teeth in each jaw, the large teeth forming the outer rows in the upper jaw, with 1 or 2 pairs of canine-like teeth that are over twice as long as the other enlarged teeth at tip of jaw. In the lower jaw the larger teeth are in the inner rows and there are no canine-like teeth. The front part of 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 ...

is supported by 10 spines, then there is a notch and the second part is supported by a single spine and between 25 and 29 soft rays. 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 ...

is supported by 2 spines and 6 or 7 soft rays. The

caudal 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 only ...

is pointed. Most of the body is covered in

ctenoid A fish scale is a small rigid plate that grows out of the skin of a fish. The skin of most jawed fishes is covered with these protective scales, which can also provide effective camouflage through the use of reflection and colouration, as w ...

scales except for the snout and beneath the eye where they are

cycloid In geometry, a cycloid is the curve traced by a point on a circle as it Rolling, rolls along a Line (geometry), straight line without slipping. A cycloid is a specific form of trochoid and is an example of a roulette (curve), roulette, a curve g ...

. The scales of the

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 ...

extend to the tip of the caudal fin. The

swim bladder The swim bladder, gas bladder, fish maw, or air bladder is an internal gas-filled organ (anatomy), organ in bony fish that functions to modulate buoyancy, and thus allowing the fish to stay at desired water depth without having to maintain lift ...

is shaped like a carrot and has 27 to 30 pairs of fan-shaped appendages along its sides, none of which enter the head. The colour is metallic blue on the back and flanks, fading to silvery on the lower body. There are diagonal streaks on the scale rows on the back. The pectoral fins are yellow, while the other fins grey with tints of orange.

Distribution and habitat

Reeve's croaker is found in the Indo-West Pacific where it occurs from Sri Lanka, along the coasts of the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. Geographically it is positioned between the Indian subcontinent and the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese peninsula, located below the Bengal region. Many South Asian and Southe ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

, to southern China and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

and south to Malaysia and Indonesia. This species is found at depths between in shallow, coastal areas in both brackish and marine waters.

Biology

Reeve's croaker feeeds on crustaceans. In Taiwan, the females reach sexual maturity at lengths of roughly and spawning runs from June to December. Adults gather in large schools in turbid waters over mud substrates and local fishermen have reported seeing them in freshwater.

Fisheries

Reeve's croaker is a target for fisheries wherever it occurs and in some areas it fetches high prices. The flesh is sold fresh or salted.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q143011, from2=Q2650994 Fish of India Fish of China Fish described in 1846 Fish of the Indian Ocean Sciaenidae Taxa named by John Richardson (naturalist) Taxa named by Ethelwynn Trewavas