''Mephisto fraserbrunneri'', the devil's spikefish, 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 ...

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 ...

Triacanthodidae, the spikefishes. This species is found in the Indian Ocean.

Taxonomy

''Mephisto fraserbrunneri'' Was first formally described in 1966 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, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

James C. Tyler with its type locality given as the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. Geographically it is positioned between the Indian subcontinent and the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese peninsula, located below the Bengal region. Many South Asian and Southe ...

at 10°39'N, 97°06'E from a depth of . When Tyler described this species he proposed a new

monospecific genus 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 "unispe ...

, ''

Mephisto Mephisto or Mephistopheles is one of the chief demons of German literary tradition. Mephisto or Mephistopheles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Méphisto'', a 1931 French film * Mephisto (1981 film), ''Mephisto'' (1981 film), a Germa ...

'', and designated ''M. fraserbrunneri'' 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 ...

. In 1968 Tyler classified this genus in the

nominate Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to a public office, or the bestowing of an honor or award. A collection of nominees narrowed from the full list of candidates is a short list. Political office In th ...

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 ...

of the family Triacanthodidae, the

Triacanthodinae Triacanthodinae is a subfamily of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Triacanthodidae, the spikefishes. This subfamily comprises nine genera and a total of nineteen species and all, except one species, are found in the tropical an ...

. 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 ...

'' classifies the family Triacanthodidae in the

suborder Order () is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and recognized ...

Triacanthoidei Triacanthoidei is a suborder of ray-finned fishes belonging to the order Tetraodontiformes, which includes the pufferfishes, triggerfishes and related taxa. These benthic fishes are mainly found in the Indian Ocean with some of the spikefishes fou ...

in the order Tetraodontiformes.

Etymology

''Mephisto fraserbrunneri'' is classified within the genus ''Mephisto'', this is the name of a

demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in Media (communication), media including f ...

, the

Mephistopheles Mephistopheles ( , ), also known as Mephostophilis or Mephisto, is a demon featured in German folklore, originating as the chief devil in the Faust legend. He has since become a stock character appearing in Mephistopheles in the arts and popular ...

of the

Faustian Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a crossroads, exc ...

tales of German folklore. This name refres to the reddish exterior, black interior and horn-like spikes of the type species. The specific name honours the British ichthyologist

Alec Fraser-Brunner Alec Frederick Fraser-Brunner (6 April 1906 – 17 Sept 1986) was a British ichthyologist. His career included work with the Colonial Office, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and as the curator of the Van Kleef Aquarium in Singapore and the ...

, who when Tyler described this species was director of the

Van Kleef Aquarium Van Kleef Aquarium was an oceanarium located along River Valley Road, at the foot of Fort Canning Hill, in Singapore. Fully air-conditioned, the aquarium had 6,500 animals at the time of opening, which were housed in freshwater, seawater, and swam ...

in Singapore, for his work on fishes in the order Plectognathi.

Description

''Mephisto fraserbrunneri'' has 6 spines and 16 soft rays in 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 ...

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 14 soft rays. The pectoral fin has 14 soft rays and the

pelvic fin Pelvic fins or ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral (belly) surface of fish, and are the lower of the only two sets of paired fins (the other being the laterally positioned pectoral fins). The pelvic fins are homologous to the hi ...

has a single spine and a single soft ray. The gill slit is long, reaching down as far as just under the lower edge of the base of the pectoral fin. The colour of the body is pinkish, other than a pale silvery patch on the abdomen and darker blotching on the upper half of the body. This species has a maximum published

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 ...

of .

Distribution and habitat

''Mephisto fraserbrunneri'' is found in the Indian Ocean. The holotype was collected in the Andaman Sea, with other specimens collected from off Somalia, off

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

and in the

Lakshadweep Sea The Laccadive Sea ( ), also known as the Lakshadweep Sea, is a body of water bordering India (including its Lakshadweep islands), the Maldives, and Sri Lanka. It is located to the southwest of Karnataka, to the west of Kerala and to the south of ...

. The specimens have been collected from depsth between .

Diet

''Mephisto fraserbrunneri'' have had their diet investigated by examining the gut contents. The diet was dominated by formaniferans, both benthic and pelagic species, as well as

pteropods Pteropoda (common name pteropods, from the Greek meaning "wing-foot") are specialized free-swimming pelagic sea snails and sea slugs, marine opisthobranch gastropods. Most live in the top 10 m of the ocean and are less than 1 cm long. ...

tusk shell Scaphopoda (plural scaphopods , from Ancient Greek σκᾰ́φης ''skáphē'' "boat" and πούς ''poús'' "foot"), whose members are also known as tusk shells or tooth shells, are a class (biology), class of shelled Marine life, marine inve ...

s, echinoderm parts and crustaceans.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q195880 fraserbrunneri Taxa named by James C. Tyler Fish described in 1966