''Leptoscopus macropygus'', the estuary stargazer, is a
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...
of
southern sandfish
The southern sandfishes are a family, Leptoscopidae, of perciform fishes inhabiting the Indian and Pacific Ocean coastal waters of Australia and New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacifi ...
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...
to the
Pacific
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
waters around
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...
.
It occurs at depths between a few and 60 m. This species can reach a length of
FL.
[ It is currently the only known member of its genus.
]
References
* Tony Ayling & Geoffrey Cox, ''Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand'', (William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1982)
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2951999
Leptoscopidae
Endemic marine fish of New Zealand
Fish described in 1846