''Datnioides polota'', the silver tigerfish, silver tiger perch, barred tigerfish, four-banded tripletail, four-banded tigerfish or four-barred tigerfish, is a species of

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 ...

Lobotidae Lobotidae is a family of ray-finned fishes that includes the tripletails, which are circumtropical marine fishes, and tiger perches, which are Asian freshwater fishes. The family is placed in the order Spariformes in the 5th edition of ''Fishes of ...

, the tripletails and tiger perches. This fish is found in southern Asia and

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 ...

Taxonomy

''Datnioides polota'' was first formally described as ''Coius polota'' by the Scottish

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

and

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 ...

Francis Buchanan-Hamilton Francis Buchanan (15 February 1762 – 15 June 1829), later known as Francis Hamilton but often referred to as Francis Buchanan-Hamilton, was a Scottish surgeon, surveyor and botanist who made significant contributions as a geographer and zoolo ...

with its type locality given as the estuaries of the

River Ganges The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary riv ...

in India. In 1853

Pieter Bleeker Pieter Bleeker (10 July 1819 – 24 January 1878) was a Dutch medical doctor, Ichthyology, ichthyologist, and Herpetology, herpetologist. He was famous for the ''Atlas Ichthyologique des Indes Orientales Néêrlandaises'', his monumental work on ...

proposed 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 ...

Datnioides ''Datnioides'' is a genus of ray-finned fish belonging to the family Lobotidae. These fishes are commonly known as tigerfish, tiger perch or freshwater tripletails. These fishes are found in the rivers of southern Asia and new Guinea. Taxonomy ...

'' and in 1876 he designated ''D. polota'' 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 ...

. In 2000

Maurice Kottelat Maurice Kottelat (born 16 July 1957 in Delémont, SwitzerlandC ...

determined that the

of the

''Coius'', ''Coius cobojius'', was a

junior synonym In taxonomy, the scientific classification of living organisms, a synonym is an alternative scientific name for the accepted scientific name of a taxon. The botanical and zoological codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. ...

of ''

Anabas testudineus The climbing perch (''Anabas testudineus'') is a species of amphibious freshwater fish in the family Anabantidae (the climbing gouramis). A labyrinth fish native to Far Eastern Asia, the fish inhabits freshwater systems from Pakistan, India, ...

'' so ''Coius'' is a junior synonym of ''

Anabas ''Anabas'' is a genus of climbing gouramies native to southern and eastern Asia. In the wild, ''Anabas'' species grow up to long. They inhabit both brackish and fresh water. ''Anabas'' species possess a labyrinth organ, a structure in the fish' ...

'', with ''Datnioides'' being the correct name for the tiger perch genus. The 5th edition of the ''

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' is a standard reference for the systematics of fishes. It was first written in 1976 by the American ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011). Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of t ...

'' classifies this genus as one of two genera in the family Lobotidae, alongside the tripletails in the genus ''

Lobotes ''Lobotes'' is a genus of ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Lobotidae known as the tripletails. These fishes are found in subtropical and tropical waters in all oceans. Taxonomy ''Lobotes'' was first proposed as a genus in 1830 by the F ...

'', which it places in the order

Spariformes Spariformes is an order of ray-finned fishes consisting of six families within the series Percomorpha. Taxonomy Spariformes was first used as a taxonomic term in 1860 by the Dutch physician, herpetologist and ichthyologist Pieter Bleeker. Trad ...

Etymology

''Datnioides polota'' has a

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 ...

, ''polota'', which Hamilton did not explain. It is thought to be a local name for this fish in the Ganges of India.

Description

''Datnioides polota'' has its

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 ...

supported by 12 spines and 13 or 14 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 ...

contains 3 spones and 8 or 9 soft rays. The maximum published

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

of this species is , although is more typical. The colour and pattern is very variable and they can have up to seven broad dark vertical bars on the body, sometimes with between 1 and 4 thinner, incomplete bars between them. The area of the back in front of the origin of the dorsal fin is concave.

Distribution and habitat

''Datnioides polota'' is found in southern Asia, where it occurs from eastern India and Bangladesh east through Indochina and Indonesia to New Guinea. This fish occurs in the brackish waters of tidal lagoons and estuaries and also in freshwater rivers and lakes beyond the influence of the tide.

Biology

''Datnioides polota'' is a predatory fish, feeding on other fishes, crustaceans and aquatic insect larvae. A study of this species in the Musi River on

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

states these fishes appear to breed all year round and

spawn Spawn or spawning may refer to: * Spawning, the eggs and sperm of aquatic animals Arts, entertainment and media * Spawn (character), a fictional character in the comic series of the same name and in the associated franchise ** ''Spawn: Armageddon' ...

in small batches each time, i.e. they are partial spawners.

Utilisation

''Datnioides polota'' is caught as a food fish and occasionally 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.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2910272

polota The Palata () or Polota () is a river in Belarus and Russia. The 93 kilometers long Palata is a tributary of the Western Dvina river. Rising in Pskov Oblast of Russia and flowing through northern Belarus, it merges with the Western Dvina at Polat ...

Fish of Thailand Fish described in 1822 Taxa named by Francis Buchanan-Hamilton