''Menticirrhus'' is a genus 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 ...

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 ...

Sciaenidae Sciaenidae is a family (biology), family of ray-finned fishes belonging to the Order (biology), order Acanthuriformes. They are commonly called drums or croakers in reference to the repetitive throbbing or drumming sounds they make. The family co ...

, the drums or croakers. They are commonly known as kingcroakers or kingfish. These fish are found in the Western Atlantic and Eastern Pacific Oceans.

Taxonomy

''Menticirrhus'' was first proposed as a genus in 1861 by the American

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

Theodore Gill Theodore Nicholas Gill (March 21, 1837 – September 25, 1914) was an American ichthyologist, mammalogist, malacologist, and librarian. Career Born and educated in New York City under private tutors, Gill early showed interest in natural hist ...

with ''Perca alburnus'', a species described by Linnaeus in 1763 from Charleston, as its only species and designated as its

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 ...

. This genus has been placed in 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 botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Sciaeninae by some workers, but 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 ...

'' does not recognise subfamilies within the Sciaenidae which it places in the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

Acanthuriformes Acanthuriformes is a large, diverse order of mostly marine ray-finned fishes, part of the Percomorpha clade. In the past, members of this clade were placed in the suborders Acanthuroidea and Percoidea of the order Perciformes, but this treatment ...

Etymology

''Menticirrhus'' is a combination of ''mentum'', meaning "chin", and ''cirrhus'', which means

barbel Barbel may refer to: *Barbel (anatomy), a whisker-like organ near the mouth found in some fish (notably catfish, loaches and cyprinids) and turtles *Barbel (fish), a common name for certain species of fish **''Barbus barbus'', a species of cyprini ...

, an allusion to the single thick barbel on the chin.

Species

''Menticirrhus'' contains the following species: *'' Menticirrhus americanus'' (

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) (Southern kingcroaker) *'' Menticirrhus elongatus'' ( Günther, 1864) (Pacific kingcroaker) *'' Menticirrhus littoralis'' ( Holbrook, 1847) (Gulf kingcroaker) *'' Menticirrhus nasus'' (Günther, 1868) (Highfin king croaker) *'' Menticirrhus ophicephalus'' ( Jenyns, 1840) (Snakehead kingcroaker) *'' Menticirrhus paitensis''

Hildebrand Hildebrand is a character from Germanic heroic legend. ''Hildebrand'' is the modern German form of the name: in Old High German it is ''Hiltibrant'' and in Old Norse ''Hildibrandr''. The word ''hild'' means "battle" and ''brand'' means "sword" ...

, 1946 (Paita kingcroaker) *'' Menticirrhus panamensis'' (

Steindachner Franz Steindachner (11 November 1834 in Vienna – 10 December 1919 in Vienna) was an Austrian zoologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. He published over 200 papers on fishes and over 50 papers on reptiles and amphibians. Steindachner descri ...

, 1877) (Panama kingcroaker) *'' Menticirrhus saxatilis'' (

Bloch Bloch is a surname of German origin. Notable people with this surname include: A *Adele Bloch-Bauer (1881–1925), Austrian entrepreneur *Albert Bloch (1882–1961), American painter *Alexandre Bloch (1857–1919), French painter *Alfred Bloch ( ...

& Schneider, 1801) (Northern kingfish) *'' Menticirrhus undulatus'' ( Girard, 1854) (California kingcroaker) Kingfish great south bay

Characteristics

''Menticirrhus'' kingfish have elongated bodies which have a rounded cross section and a flat underside. The head is long and low with a somewhat conical snout which protrudes past the horizontal mouth. There are slits and pores above the mouth with a short, stout barbel on the chin with a pore at its tip and a number of pores at its base. The

preoperculum This glossary of ichthyology is a list of definitions of terms and concepts used in ichthyology, the study of fishes. A B C ...

may be smooth or weakly serrated and the gill cover is incised at its angle. 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 ...

is supported by between 10 and 13 flexible sins and between 19 and 27 soft rays while 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 a single weak spine and 7 to 9 soft rays. The scales are small and

ctenoid A fish scale is a small rigid plate that grows out of the skin of a fish. The skin of most jawed fishes is covered with these protective scales, which can also provide effective camouflage through the use of reflection and colouration, as w ...

. The largest species in the genus is the California kingcroaker (''M. undulatus'') which has a maximum published

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 ...

of and the smallest is the Paita kingcroaker (''M. paitensis'') which has a maximum published total length of .

Distribution

''Menticirrhus'' fishes are found in the eastern Pacific between California and Peru and in the western Atlantic from Massachusetts in the north to northern Argentina.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q135256 Sciaenidae Extant Miocene first appearances Ray-finned fish genera