The stripedfin ronquil (''Rathbunella hypoplecta''), also known as the bluebanded ronquil, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family

Bathymasteridae Ronquils (sometimes spelt ronchils) is a small family marine ray-finned fish, the Bathymasteridae. These fishes are found only in Arctic and North Pacific waters. This family contains just seven species in three genera. The larger species are im ...

, the ronquils. This fish is found in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

Taxonomy

The stripedfin ronquil was first formally described as ''Bathymaster hypoplectus'' in 1890 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, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octobe ...

Charles Henry Gilbert with the type locality given as off Southern California. When

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 Univer ...

and

Barton Warren Evermann Barton Warren Evermann (October 24, 1853 – September 27, 1932) was an American ichthyologist. Early life and education Evermann was born in Monroe County, Iowa in 1853. His family moved to Indiana while he was still a child and it was ...

proposed the monotypic genus ''Rathbunella'' they designated this species as its type species. 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 ...

''hypoplectus'' is a compound of ''hypo'', which means "under", and "plectus", meaning "plaited", assumed to be a reference to the

branchiostegal membrane This glossary of ichthyology is a list of definitions of terms and concepts used in ichthyology, the study of fishes. A B C ...

s being broadly united, free from isthmus, creating a thick fold.

Description

The stripedfin ronquil has an elongate body with a shape similar to that of a

blenny Blenny (from the Greek and , mucus, slime) is a common name for many types of fish, including several families of percomorph marine, brackish, and some freshwater fish sharing similar morphology and behaviour. Six families are considered "true ...

. The overall color varies from olive brown to dull red, bluish black or purple with paler patches. There is a horizontal blue stripe running along the whole of the

anal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

. Males have a number of obvious blotches on their flanks; females are palre with darker blotches and spots on the upper body and pale bars on the lower flanks and have a blue spot on the front part of the dorsal fin. The long anal fin has no spines, 33 rays and is uniform in height along its whole length, the caudal fin is rounded and the dorsal fin contains 46 rays, the first 5 rays being simple and the rest are branched. The dorsal fin also has no spines and is uniform in height. The pectoral fins are large and rounded and

pelvic fin Pelvic fins or ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral surface of fish. The paired pelvic fins are homologous to the hindlimbs of tetrapods. Structure and function Structure In actinopterygians, the pelvic fin consists of two en ...

are thoracic, having a single spine and 5 rays. The head and body are covered with small smooth scales. The lateral line is clearly visible, located high on the body and runs in a straight line. This species has a maximum published total length of .

Distribution and habitat

The stripedfin ronquil is found in the eastern North Pacific Ocean where it is distributed from

Santo Tomás, Baja California Santo Tomás a town in Ensenada Municipality, Baja California, on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. Santo Tomás is a primarily a wine-growing region, though it is increasingly a tourist destination. History It was originally the site of the Misi ...

north to Point Conception in California. This is a solitary,

demersal fish Demersal fish, also known as groundfish, live and feed on or near the bottom of seas or lakes (the demersal zone).Walrond Carl . "Coastal fish - Fish of the open sea floor"Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 2 March 2009 They occ ...

found in exposed rocky areas in shalloiw coastal waters down to depths of .

Biology

The stripefin ronquil feeds on invertebrates such as

amphipod Amphipoda is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. Amphipods range in size from and are mostly detritivores or scavengers. There are more than 9,900 amphipod species so far descr ...

copepod Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthos, benthic (living on the ocean floor) ...

s, polychaetes,

shrimp Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are refer ...

s, and

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

s. Their predators include a variety of larger fish and California sea lions (''Zalophus californianus''). This is an

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), and ...

species and the females are batch spawning and fertilization is external. The female lays eggs in sheltered places n the rocks and the males guard them.

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q556524 Bathymasteridae Western North American coastal fauna Fish described in 1890 Taxa named by Charles Henry Gilbert