''Mendosoma lineatum'', the telescope fish, real bastard trumpeter or common trumpeter, 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 marine

ray finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or ho ...

belonging to the

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

Latridae Latridae commonly called trumpeters, is a family of marine ray-finned fish. They are found in temperate seas in the Southern Hemisphere. The classification of the species within the Latridae and the related Cheilodactylidae is unclear.They are ...

, the trumpeters. It is native to the

subantarctic The sub-Antarctic zone is a region in the Southern Hemisphere, located immediately north of the Antarctic region. This translates roughly to a latitude of between 46° and 60° south of the Equator. The subantarctic region includes many islands ...

and cooler

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

waters of the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-smal ...

. It inhabits

tide pools A tide pool or rock pool is a shallow pool of seawater that forms on the rocky intertidal shore. Many of these pools exist as separate bodies of water only at low tide. Many tide pool habitats are home to especially adaptable animals that ...

and

surge channel A surge channel is a narrow inlet, usually on a rocky shoreline, and is formed by differential erosion of those rocks by coastal wave action. As waves strike the shore, water fills the channel, and drains out again as the waves retreat. The nar ...

s and has been found living inside such invertebrates as

salp A salp (plural salps, also known colloquially as “sea grape”) or salpa (plural salpae or salpas) is a barrel-shaped, planktic tunicate. It moves by contracting, thereby pumping water through its gelatinous body, one of the most efficient ...

s. It occurs from near the surface to a depth of about . This species can reach a length of TL. This species was thought to be the only known member of its

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

Taxonomy

''Mendosoma lineatum'' was first formally described in 1848 by the French

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...

Alphonse Guichenot Antoine Alphonse Guichenot (31 July 1809 in Paris – 17 February 1876 in Cluny) was a French zoologist who taught, researched, and participated in specimen collecting trips on behalf of the ''Muséum national d'histoire naturelle'' (Paris), in ...

with the

type locality Type locality may refer to: * Type locality (biology) * Type locality (geology) See also * Local (disambiguation) * Locality (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...

given as Valparaiso Bay in Chile. Guichenot named a new

for his new species and this species was subsequently designated as the

type species In 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 species that contains the biological type specimen( ...

of the genus ''Mendosoma'', as Guichenot had placed three species in his new genus. The specific name ''lineatum'' means " lined", a reference to the green horizontal lines on back and flanks.

Description

''Mendosoma lineatum'' has an elongate and compressed body, the depth of the body fits into its

standard length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology. Overall length * Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish ...

2.7-4.3 times. Larger specimens, with a standard length in excess of . may have a hump behind the head. They have a pointed snout with a small, highly protrusible mouth with one row of small conical teeth in the upper jaw and no teeth in the lower jaw or on the roof of the mouth. The

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through c ...

has 22-25 spines and 23-27 soft rays while the

anal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as s ...

contains 3 spines and 17-21 soft rays. This species grows to a maximum

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

of . The overall colour is dark bluish-green fading to silvery on the belly. There are rows of brown spots creating thin stripes along the flanks, becoming more reticulated in pattern on the back.

Distribution and habitat

''Mendosoma lineatum'' is found in the

and temperate waters of the Southern Ocean around New Zealand, Chile and

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

, as well as

Gough Island upright=1.3, Map of Gough island Gough Island ( ), also known historically as Gonçalo Álvares, is a rugged volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a dependency of Tristan da Cunha and part of the British overseas territory of ...

in the South Atlantic, and

Île Saint-Paul Île Saint-Paul (Saint Paul Island) is an island forming part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (''Terres australes et antarctiques françaises'', TAAF) in the Indian Ocean, with an area of . The island is located about south of the la ...

and

Amsterdam Island Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

in the southern Indian Ocean. This species is found on rocky reefs, frequently where there are surge channels, in tidal pools and off steep drop offs.

Biology

''Mendosoma lineatum'' aggregates in large, fast moving schools. They use their protrusible mouths to feed on plankton above the substrate. They may live within the soft tissues of some invertebrates such as

salps A salp (plural salps, also known colloquially as “sea grape”) or salpa (plural salpae or salpas) is a barrel-shaped, planktic tunicate. It moves by contracting, thereby pumping water through its gelatinous body, one of the most efficient ...

. It has been recorded as prey for

Northern rockhopper penguin The northern rockhopper penguin, Moseley's rockhopper penguin, or Moseley's penguin (''Eudyptes moseleyi'') is a penguin species native to the southern Indian and Atlantic Oceans. It is described as distinct from the southern rockhopper pengui ...

s (''Eudyptes (chrysocome) moseleyi'') and snoek (''

Thyrsites atun ''Thyrsites atun'' ( Euphrasén, 1791), the snoek, is a long, thin species of snake mackerel found in the seas of the Southern Hemisphere, and a popular food fish in South Africa, particularly along the west and southwest coast. This fish can ...

'').

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3077073 Latridae Fish described in 1848 Taxa named by Alphonse Guichenot