The mote sculpin (''Normanichthys crockeri''), also known as the barehead scorpionfish, is a

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 ...

, the only member of the

monotypic 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 "unisp ...

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 ...

''Normanichthys'',

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 ...

Normanichthyidae and

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 ...

Normanichthyiodei. Common names for the species in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

include ''camotillo'' (in Peru) and ''bacaladillo'' (in Chile).

Taxonomy

The mote sculpin was first described by the American zoologist Howard Walton Clark in 1937 from the harbour at Valparaiso in Chile. The fish seemed to have few affinities with other known species, and a new genus and family were erected to accommodate it. This fish is classified within the order

Scorpaeniformes The Scorpaeniformes are a diverse Order (biology), order of Actinopterygii, ray-finned fish, including the lionfishes and sculpins, but have also been called the Scleroparei. It is one of the five largest orders of bony fishes by number of spec ...

in 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 ...

'' but it is so unusual that it is placed in its own suborder Normanichthyiodei and family Normanichthyidae. Other authorities differ and do not consider the Scorpaeniformes to be a valid order because the

Perciformes Perciformes (), also called the Acanthopteri, is an order or superorder of ray-finned fish in the clade Percomorpha. ''Perciformes'' means " perch-like". Among the well-known members of this group are perches and darters ( Percidae), and als ...

is not

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

without the taxa within the Scorpaeniformes being included within it. The generic name ''Normanichthys'' being given in honour of the British ichthyologist

John Roxborough Norman John Roxborough Norman (1898, Wandsworth, London – 26 May 1944, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire) was an English ichthyologist. He started as a clerk in a bank. His lifetime affliction with rheumatic fever began during his military service during the ...

who was taking part in

Discovery Investigations The Discovery Investigations were a series of scientific cruises and shore-based investigations into the biology of whales in the Southern Ocean. They were funded by the British Colonial Office and organised by the Discovery Committee in London, ...

at the time, undertaking research into whales and their ecology in the Southern Ocean. Norman gave a

paratype In zoology and botany, a paratype is a specimen of an organism that helps define what the scientific name of a species and other taxon actually represents, but it is not the holotype (and in botany is also neither an isotype (biology), isotype ...

Carl Leavitt Hubbs Carl Leavitt Hubbs (October 19, 1894 – June 30, 1979) was an American ichthyologist. Biography Early life Carl Leavitt Hubbs was born in Williams, Arizona, to Charles Leavitt and Elizabeth () Hubbs. His father had a wide variety of jobs (far ...

who wrote a short, unpublished description that Clark used in his description, Clarke appended ''ichthys'', meaning "fish", to Norman's surname. 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 ...

honours Charles Templeton Crocker, a

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

based philanthropist and self-proclaimed explorer, the

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

was collected from his yacht ''Zaca'' in 1934-35.

Description

The mote sculpin is a fairly slender fish with a maximum length of about , with the anus approximately halfway along the body. It has 1 spine and 5 pelvic fin rays, and 7 and 6 principal rays in the caudal fin. Internally, it has 36 to 37

myomere Myomeres are blocks of skeletal muscle tissue arranged in sequence, commonly found in aquatic chordates. Myomeres are separated from adjacent myomeres by fascia consisting of connective tissue, known as myosepta. Myomere counts are sometimes us ...

s (blocks of muscle). The body is covered with

ctenoid scale 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 ...

s, the head is unarmoured and there is a single spine and 5 fin rays in 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 ...

s. There are no ribs. This fish reaches 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 .

Distribution and habitat

The mote sculpin is found in tropical

South Pacific 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 ...

waters, from

Chimbote Chimbote ; ) is a city in northwestern Peru. It is the largest city in the Ancash Region and the List of cities in Peru, tenth most populous in Peru. With a population of 425,367 in 2017, it is the capital of both Santa Province and Chimbote Dist ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, to Isla Mocha,

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, where it is found at depths from .

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1849459 Scorpaenoidei Taxa named by Howard Walton Clark Fish described in 1934