''Ectreposebastes'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of marine ray-finned fish, belonging to the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

Setarchinae Setarchinae, the deep-sea bristly scorpionfishes, is a small subfamily of deep-sea ray-finned fishes, it is part of the family Scorpaenidae. They are small marine fishes, growing up to 25 cm, and are found in tropical and subtropical waters ...

, the

deep-sea bristly scorpionfish Setarchinae, the deep-sea bristly scorpionfishes, is a small subfamily of deep-sea ray-finned fishes, it is part of the family Scorpaenidae. They are small marine fishes, growing up to 25 cm, and are found in tropical and subtropical waters ...

es, part of the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Scorpaenidae The Scorpaenidae (also known as scorpionfish) are a family of mostly marine fish that includes many of the world's most venomous species. As their name suggests, scorpionfish have a type of "sting" in the form of sharp spines coated with venom ...

. The genus is found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Taxonomy

''Ectreposebastes'' was first described as a

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 in 1899 by the American

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octobe ...

Samuel German when he described what was then its only species, ''E. imus'', from the

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands (Spanish: , , ) are an archipelago of volcanic islands. They are distributed on each side of the equator in the Pacific Ocean, surrounding the centre of the Western Hemisphere, and are part of the Republic of Ecuador ...

. The genus name ''Ectreposebastes'' is a compound of ''ectrepos'' which means “reversed”, German did not explain this, and ''

Sebastes ''Sebastes'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Sebastinae part of the family Scorpaenidae, most of which have the common name of rockfish. A few are called ocean perch, sea perch or redfish instead. They are found i ...

''. It may refer to the greater depth of the body with the back arching higher under the soft-rayed part of the dorsal fin, whereas in '' S. diploproa'' the species Garman cited for comparison purposes, the greatest body depth occurs under spiny part of the dorsal fin.

Species

There are currently two recognized species in this genus: * '' Ectreposebastes imus''

Garman Garman is a surname or first name. Notable people with the name include: Sports * Ann Garman, All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player * Judi Garman (born 1954), American softball coach * Mike Garman (born 1949), American baseball pla ...

, 1899 (Midwater scorpionfish) * '' Ectreposebastes niger'' ( Fourmanoir, 1971) (Pelagic scorpionfish)

Characteristics

''Ectreposebastes'' has a relatively deep body which is rather soft and flabby. The head is quite large with a weakly ossified cranium, the bone of which is translucent and has a large volume. There is, no postocular pit and any head spines are weak. There is a longitudinal suborbital ridge which has a single very small first spine but the next two are much bigger. They have a medium sized eye. There are many small conical teeth on the jaws and there are teeth on the sides of the roof of the mouth. The margin of the preopercular has 5 spines with the second spine being the longest. There is a single dorsal fin which has a deep incision at the rear of its spiny part. This part contains 12 robust and venomous spines and there are 9 or 10 soft rays to the rear of the incision. The anal fin has 3 spines and 6 soft rays, the last one being divided., 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 epithelial ...

is complete, being a continuous trough covered by thin membrane-like scales. The scales are very small and smooth, arranged in ill-defined rows. They have a swim bladder which is either rudimentary or absent.

Distribution and habitat

''Ectreposebastes'' contains one species with an almost pantropical distribution in ''E. imus'' which occurs in the Eastern Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, while ''E. niger'' is restricted to the southwestern Pacific Ocean. They are bathypelagic fishes found at depths between .

Biology

''Ectreposebastes'' are thought to feed in thew atercolumn. Their main food is crustaceans including amphipods and shrimp of the genus '' Sergestes''. They have venom bearing spines in at least their anal fins.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2098967 Setarchinae