''Parahollardia'' is a

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 ...

of marine

ray-finned fishes Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class (biology), class of Osteichthyes, bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built ...

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. These demersal fishes are found in the Western Atlantic Ocean.

Taxonomy

''Parahollardia'' was first proposed as a

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 ...

in 1941 by the British

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 ...

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 ...

with ''Triacanthodes lineatus'' 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 ...

, and its only species. ''T. lineatus'' was first formally described in 1935 by the Canadian-American

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

and

marine biologist Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms that inhabit the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology clas ...

William Harding Longley William Harding Longley (1881–1937) was a Canadian-American botanist and marine biologist. Born in Nova Scotia, Longley received his education at Acadia University and Yale University. He spent his career from 1911 to 1937 as a professor of bio ...

with its type locality given as Tortugas in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. In 1968 the American ichthyologist James C. Tyler classified this genus, alongside ''

Hollardia ''Hollardia'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Triacanthodidae, the spikefishes. These demersal fishes are found in the Western Atlantic Ocean with one species being found in the Pacific Ocean. Taxonomy ''Hollardi ...

'' in a new

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

Hollardiinae Hollardiinae is a subfamily of Marine life, marine Actinopterygii, ray-finned fishes belonging to the Family (biology), family Spikefish, Triacanthodidae, the spikefishes. This small subfamily comprises two genera and a total of five species and ...

. 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

''Parahollardia'' means "close to ''Hollardia''", an allusion to the close relationship of the two genera.

Species

''Parahollardia'' contains the following 2 valid species: * '' Parahollardia lineata'' ( Longley, 1935) (Jambeau) * '' Parahollardia schmidti'' Woods, 1959

Characteristics

''Parahollardia'' spikefishes have rather deep, slightly compressed bodies with small mouths that open to the front and a short snout. There are 2 series of conical teeth on each jaw with between 1 and 10, typically 2 to 4, irregularly positioned teeth outside of the outer row. 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 ...

typically has its origin origin immediately to the rear of the gill opening's top corner. It is supported by six spines, the first being long and robust, and these decrease in size towards the rear and the spines can be locked upright the soft rays are branched. There is a single large lockable spine in the pelvic fin too. The lower surface of the scale-covered part of the pelvis is rounded. These fishes have thick, rough skin which is covered in many small scales, each one with tiny spines on it. These are small fishes with maximum published lengths of

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 ...

for ''P. lineata''.

Distribution and habitat

''Parahollardia'' spikefishes are found in the Western Atlantic Ocean off the southeastern United States, in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

and the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

. ''P. lineata'' is found at depths between over soft substrates close to the edge of the continetal shelf and along the continental slope.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7134767 Hollardiinae Taxa named by Alec Fraser-Brunner Marine fish genera