The piper gurnard (''Trigla lyra''), also known as the piper or the lyre gurnard, 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, demersal

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 ...

from 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 ...

Triglidae ''Triglidae'', commonly known as gurnards or sea robins, are a Family (biology), family of bottom-feeding scorpaeniform ray-finned fish. The gurnards are distributed in temperate and tropical seas worldwide. Taxonomy ''Triglidae'' was first des ...

, the gurnards and sea robins. It is found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. 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 ...

''Trigla''.

Taxonomy

The piper gurnard was first formally described in 1758 by

Carl 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 ...

in the 10th edition of his

Systema Naturae ' (originally in Latin written ' with the Orthographic ligature, ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Sweden, Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the syste ...

with its type locality given as "British Seas". It is the only species in the monotypic genus ''Trigla'' which is classified within 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 ...

Triglinae Triglinae is a subfamily of demersal, marine ray-finned fishes, part of the family Triglidae, the gurnards and searobins. These gurnards are found in all the tropical and temperate oceans of the world except for the Western Atlantic Ocean. Taxono ...

, within the family Triglidae. In 1883

David Starr Jordan David Starr Jordan (January 19, 1851 – September 19, 1931) was the founding president of Stanford University, serving from 1891 to 1913. He was an ichthyologist during his research career. Prior to serving as president of Stanford Universi ...

and

Charles Henry Gilbert Charles Henry Gilbert (December 5, 1859 in Rockford, Illinois – April 20, 1928 in Palo Alto, California) was a pioneer ichthyologist and Fisheries science, fishery biologist of particular significance to natural history of the western Unit ...

designated this species as the

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 ...

of the genus ''Trigla'', which was not thought to be monotypic at that time. The genus name, ''Trigla'', is a classical name for the red mullet (''

Mullus barbatus ''Mullus barbatus'' (red mullet) is a species of goatfish found in the Mediterranean Sea, Sea of Marmara, the Black Sea and the eastern North Atlantic Ocean, where its range extends from Scandinavia to Senegal. They are fished, mostly by trawling, ...

''); Artedi thought the red mullet and the gurnards were the same because fishes from both taxa are known to create sounds taken out of the water as well as being red in colour. Linnaeus realised they were different and classified ''Trigla'' as a gurnard, in contradiction of the ancient usage. 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 ...

''lyra'' means "lyre", an allusion Linnaeus did not explain; it may refer to the protuberances, plates and spines of the head together creating a lyre-like shape when looked at from above.

Description

The piper gurnard has a large head bearing numerous spines and ridges, but lacking a deep occipital groove. The first

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 ...

has between 8 and 10 spines, the forward edge of the first dorsal fin spine is smooth. Both the second dorsal and the anal fin contain 15 or 16 soft rays. There are no scales on the breast and the belly is only partially covered in scales. The scales in the lateral line are small and tubular. The caudal fin is slightly concave. The pelvic fins are well developed and have a single spine and 5 soft rays. The pectoral fins are even larger, reaching up to the front rays of the second dorsal fin and the lower 3 rays are separate, thickened and fingerlike, as is typical of the gurnards. The upper body us red in colour while the lower body is pale. The anal and pectoral fin membranes are dusky, marked with small blue spots. The maximum published total length for this species is , although is more usual.

Distribution and habitat

The piper gurnard is found in the eastern Atlantic from Scotland south to

Walvis Bay Walvis Bay (; ; ) is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies. It is the List of cities in Namibia, second largest city in Namibia and the largest coastal city in the country. The city covers an area of of land. The bay is a ...

in Namibia, including the

Macaronesian Islands Macaronesia (; ) is a collection of four volcanic archipelagos in the North Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of North Africa and Europe. Each archipelago is made up of a number of Atlantic oceanic islands, which were formed by seamounts on the ...

and the Gulf of Guinea Islands, it is found in the Mediterranean Sea but not the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

. It is a deepwater demersal fish found at depths as deep as and prefers sandy and muddy substrates.

Biology

The piper gurnard has a diet dominated by crustaceans, especially the neritic species, like schools of shrimps, but also benthic species, such as crabs and hermit crabs. It will also eat echinoderms , particularly the

brittle stars Brittle stars, serpent stars, or ophiuroids (; ; referring to the serpent-like arms of the brittle star) are echinoderms in the class Ophiuroidea, closely related to starfish. They crawl across the sea floor using their flexible arms for locomot ...

polychaete Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine Annelid, annelid worms, common name, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called c ...

s and the small benthic fishes. Sexual maturity is attained at around and the pelagic eggs are spawned in the summer months. The larvae are already armoured with bony plates and some spines. These fish may live for up to 7 years.

Fisheries

The piper gurnard is not targeted, and not exported, in the eastern central Atlantic but it is caught and consumed on local scales. However, in the Mediterranean this species is subjected to a commercial fishery and is a regular item for sale in markets in Morocco, Greece and Turkey, ad occasionally elsewhere. the flesh is sold fresh or refrigerated.

References

External links

*
Fishbase
{{Triglidae Triglinae Fish of Africa Fish of the Atlantic Ocean Fish of Europe Fish of the Mediterranean Sea Fish of the North Sea Fish described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus