The smooth horsefish (''Congiopodus torvus'') 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 ...

Congiopodidae Congiopodidae, commonly known as pigfishes, horsefishes and racehorses, is a family of ray-finned fish classified with in the order Scorpaeniformes. These fishes are native to the Southern Hemisphere. Taxonomy Congiopodidae was first formally ...

, the horsefishes or pigfishes. It is found in the waters off Southern Africa.

Taxonomy

The smooth horsefish was first formally described as ''Blennius torvus'' in 1772 by the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...

Laurens Theodoor Gronow with the

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

given, probably in error, as the Indian Ocean. In 1811 the English naturalist George Perry described a new species, ''Congiopodus percatus'' which he

classified Classified may refer to: General *Classified information, material that a government body deems to be sensitive *Classified advertising or "classifieds" Music *Classified (rapper) (born 1977), Canadian rapper *The Classified, a 1980s American roc ...

in a new

monotypic 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 "unispec ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

, ''

Congiopodus ''Congiopodus'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Congiopodidae, the pigfishes or horsefishes. These fishes are found in the southern Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Taxonomy Congiopodus was first formally describe ...

''. This taxon was subsequently considered to be a junior synonym of Gronow's ''Blennius torvus'', so this species is the

type species In 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 species that contains the biological type specimen( ...

of its genus as ''C. percatus''. The specific name ''torvus'' means "staring eyes", an allusion Gronow did not expand upon but which may refer to the placement of the eyes on the each side at the top of the head.

Description

The smooth horsefish is a compressed fish with a long continuous

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 ...

that is very high over the head and which contains 20 or 21 spines and between 13 and 15 soft rays. 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 ...

lacks any pines and has 7 or 8 soft rays.} There is a projecting snout with a small, terminal mouth and a single nostril at each side. The adults are smooth skinnned but the skin of juveniles is covered with small rough bumps. This species attains a maximum published

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

of but a total length of is more typical. The juveniles are pale brown in colour broken with irregular darker brown markings, while the adults are plain dark brown. Agriopus torvus - MHNT - ICHT

Distribution and habitat

The smooth horsefish is endemic to the temperate waters of southern Africa where it is found from Namibia in the Atlantic Ocean around the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is ...

to the coast of

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 ...

in the Indian Ocean. This is a

demersal fish Demersal fish, also known as groundfish, live and feed on or near the bottom of seas or lakes (the demersal zone).Walrond Carl . "Coastal fish - Fish of the open sea floor"Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 2 March 2009 They o ...

which lives at depths of on rocky reefs and sandy seabeds.

Biology

The smooth horsefish is more active during the night than in the day. It feeds on benthic invertebrates such as

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean gro ...

s, molluscs,

sea urchin Sea urchins () are spiny, globular echinoderms in the class Echinoidea. About 950 species of sea urchin live on the seabed of every ocean and inhabit every depth zone from the intertidal seashore down to . The spherical, hard shells (tests) ...

brittle star Brittle stars, serpent stars, or ophiuroids (; ; referring to the serpent-like arms of the brittle star) are echinoderms in the class Ophiuroidea, closely related to starfish. They crawl across the sea floor using their flexible arms for locom ...

s and worms. This species is reputed to be rather docile and approachable, even, occasionally, being handled by divers when they have been heard to give off a quiet "tok-tok-tok".

Fisheries

The smooth horsefish has palatable flesh but is not subjected to commercial fisheries and any such fishery would require more information to be gained on the species biology and population before it could be considered. It is taken as

bycatch Bycatch (or by-catch), in the fishing industry, is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while fishing for specific species or sizes of wildlife. Bycatch is either the wrong species, the wrong sex, or is undersized or juven ...

trawler Trawler may refer to: Boats * Fishing trawler, used for commercial fishing * Naval trawler, a converted trawler, or a boat built in that style, used for naval purposes ** Trawlers of the Royal Navy * Recreational trawler, a pleasure boat built traw ...

s and there is evidence that even this has caused signs of

overfishing Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish (i.e. fishing) from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally (i.e. the overexploitation of the fishery's existing fish stock), resulting in the ...

in Namibia.

References

{{Taxonbar, from = Q2499747 Congiopodus Fish described in 1772