Tang's snapper (''Lipocheilus carnolabrum'') is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

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 ...

, a snapper 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 ...

Lutjanidae Lutjanidae or snappers are a family of perciform fishes, mainly marine but with some members inhabiting estuaries and, in some cases, fresh water (e.g., '' Lutjanus goldiei''). The family includes about 113 species. Most species are used for foo ...

. It is native to the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

and the western

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. They inhabit areas of the

continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an islan ...

with rocky substrates at depths from . This species grows to in

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

. It is a commercially important species as a food fish. This species is the only known member of its

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 ...

Description

Tang's snapper has a body which is around 40% as deep as its

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 ...

. It has a large mouth, the upper jaw protruded when the mouth is closed, with the adults having a thick, fleshy knob on the front of the upper lip The space between the eyes can either be flat or convex. There are

palatine A palatine or palatinus (Latin; : ''palatini''; cf. derivative spellings below) is a high-level official attached to imperial or royal courts in Europe since Roman Empire, Roman times.

and

vomerine teeth The vomer (; ) is one of the unpaired facial bones of the skull. It is located in the midsagittal line, and articulates with the sphenoid, the ethmoid, the left and right palatine bones, and the left and right maxillary bones. The vomer forms t ...

, with the vomerine teeth being arranged in a V-shaped patch. The

caudal 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 only ...

has a moderate fork. The

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 ...

contains 10 spines and 10 soft rays, 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 ...

has 3 spines and 8 soft rays and there are no scales on either of these fins. The rearmost soft rays in the dorsal and anal fins not produced. The

pectoral fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish aquatic locomotion, swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the vertebral column ...

s are long and they extend to past the anus. The upper part of the head and body are brown with yellowish or pinkish flanks and a silvery sheen on the underside. This species grows to in

Distribution

Tang's snapper has a wide Indo-West Pacific distribution. Despite this wide range it has been recorded from only a few localities. These include the Ryukyu Islands, the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...

, the

Andaman Sea The Andaman Sea (historically also known as the Burma Sea) is a marginal sea of the northeastern Indian Ocean bounded by the coastlines of Myanmar and Thailand along the Gulf of Martaban and the west side of the Malay Peninsula, and separated f ...

, and the northwestern section of the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea () is a region of sea in the northern Indian Ocean, bounded on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel, on the northwest by Gulf of Oman and Iran, on the north by Pakistan, on the east by India, and ...

. It has also been recorded from the

Lakshadweep Islands Lakshadweep () is a union territory of India. It is an archipelago of 36 islands divided into three island subgroups: the Amindivi Islands in the north, the Laccadive Islands (separated from Amindivi roughly by the 11th parallel north), and ...

and Sri Lanka, Vanuatu, northern Australia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

Habitat and biology

Tang's snapper is a demersal species which occurs over rocky bottoms and rocky reefs on the continental shelf at depths between . It is probably a predator of fishes and larger invertebrates. It is characteristic component of the assemblage of fish species occurring at depths of more than in offshore waters.

Systematics and etymology

Tang's snapper was first formally described in 1970 as ''Tangia carnolabrum'' by Chan William Lai-Yee with the type locality given as being in the South China Sea, about to the southeast of

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

at a depth of . The genus name, ''Tangia'', was preoccupied by a genus of

leafhoppers Leafhopper is the common name for any species from the family Cicadellidae: based on the type genus ''Cicadella''. These minute insects, colloquially known as hoppers, are plant feeders that suck plant sap from grass, shrubs, or trees. Their hind ...

in the family

Tropiduchidae Tropiduchidae is a family of planthoppers in the order Hemiptera. There are at least 160 genera and 600 described species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes o ...

, so in 1977 the new genus name ''Lipocheilus'' was coined by William D. Anderson Jr., Purnesh Kumar Talwar and G. David Johnson, the novel name being a compound of meaning 'fat' and meaning 'lip', a reference to the fleshy knob on the upper lip; the

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 ...

''carnolabrum'' means 'fleshy lips' for a similar reason. It is the only member of its genus.

Utilisation

Tang's snapper is a target species for of long-line fisheries, especially on the continental shelf off southern China while in Papua New Guinea, this species is commercially important despite not being directly targeted by fisheries. It was formerly caught 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 juve ...

in the Western Deepwater Trawl Fishery in Australia, however as of 2016 this was not an active fishery. It is caught using handlines, longlines and bottom trawls.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1902681 Tang's snapper Tang's snapper