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''Scatophagus argus'', the spotted scat, butterfish, mia mia, spotted butterfish or tiger scat, is a species of fish in the scat
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 ...
Scatophagidae Scatophagidae, the scats are a small family of ray-finned fishes in the order Perciformes. They are found in the Indo-Pacific region but one species has been introduced elsewhere. Taxonomy Scatophagidae was first formally described as a family ...
. It occurs in two basic color morphs which are called green scat and ruby or red scat. This fish is generally distributed around 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, to
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
,
New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
, and southeastern
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. They live in coastal muddy areas, including estuaries, mangroves, harbours, and the lower courses of rivers. They are popular aquarium fish.


Taxonomy

''Scatophagus argus'' was first formally described in 1766 as ''Chaetodon argus'' by
Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...
with the type locality given as India. In 1831 Georges Cuvier described the
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 ...
'' Scatophagus'' and Linnaeus's ''C. argus'' was designated as its
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
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 ...
''argus'' refers to the mythical hundred-eyed guardian of Io, Argus, who following his death had his eyes became the feathers of a peacock, a reference to the brown to reddish-brown spots on the body of this fish.


Description

''Scatophagus argus'' has a body which is rectangular and strongly compressed with the head having a steep dorsal profile. It has a moderately large eye which has a diameter noticeably smaller than the length of the rounded, snout. They have a small, horizontal mouth which is not protractile. There are a number of rows of small bristle-like teeth in the jaws. 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 ...
has 10–11 spines and 16–18 soft rays, while 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 ...
has 4 spines and 13–15 soft rays. Spines and rays of the dorsal fin are separated by a deep notch and the first spine in the dorsal fin lies flat. The rear margins of soft parts of the dorsal and anal fins is roughly vertical. 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 rounded in juveniles and truncate to weakly emarginate adults. Small ctenoid scales cover the body. The body is greenish-brown to silvery with many brown to red-brown spots. Juveniles are a greenish-brown with either a few large, dark, rounded blotches, or five or six dark, vertical bars. This species attains a maximum total length of .


Distribution and habitat

''Scatophagus argus'' has a wide Indo-Pacific range. It is found from the
Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...
, along the south Asian coast into the western Pacific. It occurs as far north as Japan south to
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
,
New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...
, and Fiji. It has also been recorded from
French Polynesia French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...
. A small population was probably established in the
Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...
around Malta after a first report in 2007 (probably as a result of released aquarium fishes). This is a species of sheltered, shallow coastal waters such as estuaries, harbours, mangrove pools, and the lower parts of fresh water streams, particularly where there are high mineral concentrations. The very small juveniles float within the surface film of the water.


Biology

''Scatophagus argus'' is
omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that regularly consumes significant quantities of both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize ...
and an indiscriminate eater. In 1992, biologists Barry and Fast reported adult scat from the Philippines were primarily
herbivorous A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet. These more broadly also encompass animals that eat n ...
, while the juveniles preferred zooplankton. Although scat were named for their purported habit of feeding on offal, the name of the genus ''Scatophagus'' means "dung eater". it may be a misnomer as this behaviour has not been confirmed in diet studies. Since spotted scats can live in relatively enclosed waterbodies, as well as quite far upstream in freshwater rivers, they can adapt to varying salinities. As fry, they live in freshwater environments, but as they mature, they move to saltwater environments. They do not live in
temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...
waters, as they require at least a little warmth between This species forms schools. The females attain sexual maturity at around 7–9 months of age and when the weigh , whereas the males are sexually mature at a smaller size. In the Philippines,
spawning Spawn is the Egg cell, eggs and Spermatozoa, sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of freely releasing eggs and sperm into a body of water (fresh or marine); the physical act is ...
is brought on by the
monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...
rains that start in June and July and the increased rainfall brings cooler temperatures, increased river outflows and lower salinities. The eggs are about in diameter, they are transparent and have a spherical shape. The larvae take around 20 hours to hatch from fertilisation and on hatching are in length. The juveniles pass through a
pelagic The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean and can be further divided into regions by depth. The word ''pelagic'' is derived . The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or water column between the sur ...
tholichthys larval stage, like butterflyfishes.


Utilisation

''Scatophagus argus'' is fished for and eaten by some people from its original environment, and can sting with small spikes in its anterior parts, inflicting a venom that causes great pain and dizziness. Treatment of the wound is often done by soaking the site of invenomation in hot water. It also appears in the
aquarium An aquarium (: aquariums or aquaria) is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. fishkeeping, Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquati ...
trade.


Parasites

''Scatophagus argus'' harbors
parasites Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The en ...
, like most fish. The
acanthocephala Acanthocephala ( Greek , ' 'thorn' + , ' 'head') is a group of parasitic worms known as acanthocephalans, thorny-headed worms, or spiny-headed worms, characterized by the presence of an eversible proboscis, armed with spines, which it uses t ...
n worm ''Pararhadinorhynchus magnus'' has been described from the intestine of this fish in waters off
Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scatophagus Argus argus Fish described in 1766 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus