The whitenose pigfish (''Perryena leucometopon'') is a species 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 ...

Congiopodidae Congiopodidae, commonly known as pigfishes, horsefishes and racehorses, is a family of ray-finned fish classified with in the order Perciformes. These fishes are native to the Southern Hemisphere. Taxonomy Congiopodidae was first formally recog ...

, the horsefishes or pigfishes. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the waters off southern and western Australia. It is the only species in 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 ...

''Perryena'' and the

classification Classification is the activity of assigning objects to some pre-existing classes or categories. This is distinct from the task of establishing the classes themselves (for example through cluster analysis). Examples include diagnostic tests, identif ...

of that genus in the family Congiopodidae is not universally agreed upon.

Taxonomy

The whitenose pigfish was first formally described in 1922 as ''Congiopodus leucometopon'' by the British-born Australian

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

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 ...

herpetologist Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...

, and

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

Edgar Ravenswood Waite Edgar Ravenswood Waite (5 May 1866 – 19 January 1928) was a British/Australian zoologist, ichthyologist, herpetologist, and ornithologist. Waite was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, count ...

with the type locality given as the beach at Glenelg on

Gulf St Vincent Gulf St Vincent, sometimes referred to as St Vincent Gulf, St Vincent's Gulf or Gulf of St Vincent, is the eastern of two large inlets of water on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, the other being the larger Sp ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. In 1940

Gilbert Percy Whitley Gilbert Percy Whitley (9 June 1903 – 18 July 1975) was a British-born Australian ichthyologist and malacologist who was curator of fishes at the Australian Museum in Sydney for about 40 years. Early life and education Gilbert Percy Whitley ...

reclassified this species in the monotypic genus ''Perryena''. A recent study placed the whitenose pigfish into an expanded stonefish clade, the

Synanceiidae Synanceiinae is a subfamily of Venom, venomous ray-finned fishes, waspfishes, which is classification of life, classified as part of the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes and their relatives. These fishes are found in the Indo-Pacific ocean ...

, because all of these fish have a lachrymal sabre that can project a switch-blade-like mechanism out from underneath their eye. Other classify it within the monogeneric family Perryenidae 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 ...

'' retains this taxon within the family Congiopodidae.

Etymology

The whitenose pigfish was given 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 ...

''leucometopon'' by Waite, this is a compound of ''leuco'', which means, "white" and ''metopon'', meaning "forehead", an allusion to the white patch at the anterior part of the head. The genus name of ''Perryena'' was coined by Whitley and honours George Perry, the English

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

who originally named the genus ''

Congiopodus ''Congiopodus'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Congiopodidae, the pigfishes or horsefishes. These fishes are found in the southern Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Taxonomy Congiopodus was first formally described as ...

'', which Waite had originally classified this species in.

Description

The whitenose pigfish has a dorsal fin which starts over the centre of the eye and which contains 15 spines, with the fourth spine being the longest, and 9 soft rays. Unlike the species in the genus ''Congiopodus'' there are 3 spines, as opposed to none, in 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 ...

and 6 or 7 soft rays. There are no scales on the skin. The forehead, first dorsal-fin spine, the anterior part of the snout and the tip of the chin are white, separated from the dark brown remainder of the head and body by a black stripe. This is a small species in which the type specimens were and in length.

Distribution and habitat

The whitenose pigfish is endemic to southern and western Australia where there have been scattered records from the central coast of South Australia and off the southern and western coasts of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

as far north as

Port Denison Port Denison is a town of 3000 residents in the Mid West region of Western Australia. Its local government area is the Shire of Irwin and it is located southwest of Dongara on the Indian Ocean coast. History Port Denison was initially known ...

. It is a reef associated,

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning "the depths". ...

species found on the

continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an islan ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1662072 Congiopodidae Fish described in 1922 Taxa named by Edgar Ravenswood Waite Taxa named by Gilbert Percy Whitley