''Scolopsis curite'', the whitecheek monocle bream, 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 ...

Nemipteridae, the threadfin breams. This fish is found in the Indian Ocean.

Taxonomy

''Scolopsis curite'' was first formally described in 1815 by the French

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 ...

Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, baron Cuvier (23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier (; ), was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuv ...

following a figure drawn by Patrick Russell of a fish given the name ''Kurite'' in

Visakhapatnam Visakhapatnam (; List of renamed places in India, formerly known as Vizagapatam, and also referred to as Vizag, Visakha, and Waltair) is the largest and most populous metropolitan city in the States and union territories of India, Indian stat ...

, India. This taxon was regarded as a synonyms of '' S. vosmeri'' but ''S. vosmerii'' has been shown to be a

species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

of three species in 2022. ''S. curite'' in the Indian Ocean, ''S. vosmeri'' in the northern Indian Ocean and Indonesia and '' S. japonica'' in the Western Pacific Ocean. ''S. curite'' and ''S. japonica'' are closely related

sister species In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

which replace each other geographically. The type species of the

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 ...

Scolopsis ''Scolopsis'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the Family (biology), family Nemipteridae, the threadfin breams. These fishes are found in the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean. Taxonomy ''Scolopsis'' was first propose ...

'' is ''Scolopsis sayanus'' but this is a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

of the pirate perch (''Aphredoderus sayanus'') which is not a member of, or closely related to, the genus ''Scolopsis''. As ''S. curite'' is now considered to be a valid species it should be designated the type species of the genus Scolopsis. In 2022 a

neotype In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes ...

was designated for this species and its type locality is

Puducherry Puducherry or Pondicherry may refer to: Places in India * Puducherry (union territory), formerly known as Pondicherry ** Puducherry (city), capital of the union territory of Puducherry ** Puducherry district The Puducherry District, also know ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

. 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 genus ''Scolopsis'' within the family Nemipteridae which it places in the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

Spariformes Spariformes is an order of ray-finned fishes consisting of six families within the series Percomorpha. Taxonomy Spariformes was first used as a taxonomic term in 1860 by the Dutch physician, herpetologist and ichthyologist Pieter Bleeker. Trad ...

Description

''Scolopsis curite'' is very similar to ''S. vosmeri'' but it has a wedge shape black spot on the upper

pectoral fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish aquatic locomotion, swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the vertebral column ...

base, has no white band underneath the

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelia ...

and in having greenish yellow, rather than black spots on the bases of the scales on the body. The colour of the

pelvic The pelvis (: pelves or pelvises) is the lower part of an anatomical trunk, between the abdomen and the thighs (sometimes also called pelvic region), together with its embedded skeleton (sometimes also called bony pelvis or pelvic skeleton). ...

and

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 ...

s also differing being yellow rather than reddish brown, the caudal peduncle being yellowish rather than white and the

caudal 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 only ...

being yellow rather than greyish. ''S. curite'' is not easy to tell apart from ''S. japonica'' as they have very similar colours and patterns, however, in ''S. japonica'' the margin of the

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

is serrated or has a spiny edge while the preoperculum of ''S. curite'' is more robust and rough with a bony margin which has one or two rows of short blunt spines along its whole length.

Distribution and habitat

''Scolopsis curite'' is only found in the Indian Ocean where it occurs along the eastern coast of Africa from

KwaZulu Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

and Madagascar north to the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

, although absent from the far northern Red Sea, it occurs in the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

and

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea () is a region of sea in the northern Indian Ocean, bounded on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel, on the northwest by Gulf of Oman and Iran, on the north by Pakistan, on the east by India, and ...

east to the

Andaman Sea The Andaman Sea (historically also known as the Burma Sea) is a marginal sea of the northeastern Indian Ocean bounded by the coastlines of Myanmar and Thailand along the Gulf of Martaban and the west side of the Malay Peninsula, and separated f ...

. It is found in turbid waters at depths between over areas of seabed made up of sand and mud close to reefs, or in clear sandy area. Typically found in pairs or singly.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q123560871

curite } Curite is a rare mineral with the chemical composition Pb3 UO2)4O4(OH)3sub>2·2 H2O. It is therefore a hydrated lead uranyl oxide, which forms red needles or orange, massive aggregates. Etymology and history Curite was first found at ...

Fish described in 1815 Taxa named by Georges Cuvier