''Dentex'' is a

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 ...

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 ...

es 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 ...

Sparidae Sparidae is a family of ray-finned fishes belonging to the order Spariformes, the seabreams and porgies, although they were traditionally classified in the order Perciformes. The over 150 species are found in shallow and deep marine waters in t ...

, which includes the seabreams and porgies. The fishes in this genus are found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the eastern Indian and Western Pacific Oceans.

Taxonomy

''Dentex'' was first proposed as a genus by the French

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, baron Cuvier (23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier (; ), was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuv ...

in 1814, ''Sparus dentex'' was the

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 ...

by absolute tautonymy. ''S. dentex'' had been described in 1758 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 ...

in the 10th Edition of his ''

Systema Naturae ' (originally in Latin written ' with the Orthographic ligature, ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Sweden, Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the syste ...

'' from 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 ...

. The five

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 ...

species form a

species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

called the ''Dentex hypselosomus'' species complex but have not been separated into their own genus. This genus is placed in the family Sparidae within the order Spariformes by the 5th edition of ''

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 ...

''. Some authorities classify this genus in the subfamily Denticinae, but the 5th edition of Fishes of the World does not recognise subfamilies within the Sparidae.

Etymology

''Dentex'' means "with large teeth, and is tautonymous with Linnaeus's ''Sparus dentex'', and is a reference to the large teeth in both jaws.

Species

There are currently 14 recognized species in this genus: * '' Dentex abei'' Iwatsuki, Akazaki & Taniguchi, 2007 (Yellowfin seabream) * '' Dentex angolensis'' Poll & Maul, 1953 (Angolan dentex) * '' Dentex barnardi'' Cadenat, 1970 (Barnard's dentex) * '' Dentex canariensis'' Steindachner, 1881 (Canary dentex) * '' Dentex carpenteri'' Iwatsuki, S. J. Newman & B. C. Russell, 2015 (Yellow snout seabream) * '' Dentex congoensis'' Poll, 1954 (Congo dentex) * '' Dentex dentex'' (

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 ...

, 1758) (Common dentex) * '' Dentex fourmanoiri'' Akazaki & Séret, 1999 (Fourmanoir's seabream) * '' Dentex gibbosus'' ( Rafinesque, 1810) (Pink dentex) * '' Dentex hypselosomus'' Bleeker, 1854 (Yellowback seabream) * '' Dentex macrophthalmus'' ( Bloch, 1791) (Large-eye dentex) * '' Dentex maroccanus''

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; ; or ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced ...

, 1830 (Morocco dentex) * '' Dentex spariformis'' J. D. Ogilby, 1910 (Saffronfin seabream) The

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

fossil species '' Dentex laekeniensis'' van Beneden, 1872 is generally placed in its own genus, '' Ctenodentex''.

Characteritstics

''Dentex'' seabreams are characterised within the Sparidae by the possession of a series of sharp conical teeth in each jaw, 4 in the upper jaw and 6 in the lower jaw , These teeth are enlarged and canine-like and they have no molar-like teeth. The scales between the eyes extend to near a level with the front part of the orbit. The flange on the preoperculum is completely covered in scales. The largest species in the genus is the pink dentex (''D. gibbosus'') with a maximum published fork length of while the smallest is ''D. fourmanoiri'' which has a 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 .

Distribution

''Dentex'' sea breams are found in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean, from Europe to Namibia, and in the Eastern Indian and Western Pacific Ocean from Japan south to Australia.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2538768 Sparidae Marine fish genera Taxa named by Georges Cuvier Spariform fish genera