''Sebastapistes'' 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 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 ...

Scorpaenidae The Scorpaenidae (also known as scorpionfish) are a family (biology), family of mostly ocean, marine fish that includes many of the world's most venomous species. As their name suggests, scorpionfish have a type of "sting" in the form of sharp ...

, the scorpionfishes. The fishes in this genus are found in the

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

and

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

Taxonomy

''Sebastapistes'' was first described as a genus in 1877 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, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

Theodore Gill Theodore Nicholas Gill (March 21, 1837 – September 25, 1914) was an American ichthyologist, mammalogist, malacologist, and librarian. Career Born and educated in New York City under private tutors, Gill early showed interest in natural hist ...

, Gill included 3 species within the new genus and in 1898

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

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 ...

designated ''Scorpaena strongia'' which had been described by

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 ...

in 1829 with its type locality given as

Kosrae Kosrae ( ), formerly known as Kusaie or Strong's Island, is an island in the Caroline Islands archipelago, and States of Micronesia, state within the Federated States of Micronesia. It includes the main island of Kosrae, traditionally known as Ual ...

in the

Caroline Islands The Caroline Islands (or the Carolines) are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically, they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the cen ...

, 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 ...

. This genus is classified within the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

Scorpaenini Scorpaenini is a tribe of marine ray-finned fishes, one of two tribes in the subfamily Scorpaeninae. This tribe contains the "typical" or "true" scorpionfishes. The taxonomy of the scorpionfishes is in some flux, the 5th Edition of Fishes of the ...

, in 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 ...

Scorpaeninae Scorpaeninae is a subfamily of ray-finned fish belonging to the family Scorpaenidae in the order Scorpaeniformes, it includes the scorpionfishes, the lionfishes and turkeyfishes. They bear venomous spines in the anal, dorsal and pelvic fins which ...

of the family Scorpaenidae. The etymology of the genus name ''Sebastapistes'' was not explained by Gill, it may be that ''Sebast-'' is derived from ''Sebastichthys'' (a subgenus of Sebastes), which was previously a genus ''S. cyanostigma'' was classified in, or a reference to sebastin fishes in general; ''apistes'' is ''apistus'' which means "untrustworthy" or "perfidious", as these fishes are not a true rockfishes but are "intermediate between the Sebastoid and Scorpaenoid genera".

Species

The 11 recognized species in this genus are: * '' Sebastapistes ballieui'' ( Sauvage, 1875) (Spotfin scorpionfish) * '' Sebastapistes coniorta'' O. P. Jenkins, 1903 (Humpback nohu) * '' Sebastapistes cyanostigma'' ( Bleeker, 1856) (Yellowspotted scorpionfish) * '' Sebastapistes fowleri'' ( Pietschmann, 1934) (Pygmy scorpionfish) * '' Sebastapistes galactacma'' O. P. Jenkins, 1903 (Galactacma scorpionfish) * '' Sebastapistes mauritiana'' (Cuvier, 1829) (Spineblotch scorpionfish)

* '' Sebastapistes nuchalis'' Günther, 1874 * '' Sebastapistes perplexa'' Motomura, Aizawa & Endo, 2014 * '' Sebastapistes strongia'' (G. Cuvier, 1829) (Barchin scorpionfish) * '' Sebastapistes taeniophrys'' ( Fowler, 1943) * '' Sebastapistes tinkhami'' (Fowler, 1946) (Darkspotted scorpionfish) Some authorities consider that ''S. nuchalis'' is a

junior synonym In taxonomy, the scientific classification of living organisms, a synonym is an alternative scientific name for the accepted scientific name of a taxon. The botanical and zoological codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. ...

of ''S. strongia'' and that '' Scorpaena pascuensis'' should be included within ''Sebastapistes''.

Characteristics

''Sebastapistes'' scorpionfishes are characterised by there being 12 spines in 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 ...

, having teeth on the

palatine A palatine or palatinus (Latin; : ''palatini''; cf. derivative spellings below) is a high-level official attached to imperial or royal courts in Europe since Roman Empire, Roman times.

and byhaving the rear lacrimal spine being directed diagonally downwards. The pored scales in 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 ...

continue on to the

caudal peduncle 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 ...

and they do not have a deep occipital pit. There are species in the deepwater scorpionfish genus ''

Neomerinthe ''Neomerinthe'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. They are found in Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean. Taxonomy ''Neomerinthe'' was first described as a genus in 1935 by the American ...

'' which share these characteristics with this genus but have different patterns of spines and scales on their heads, differing

meristics Meristics is an area of zoology and botany which relates to counting quantitative features of animals and plants, such as the number of fins or scales in fish. A meristic (countable trait) can be used to describe a particular species, or used to i ...

and by living in deep water. The size of these small scorpionfishes varies from a maximum published

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 ...

of in ''S. taeniophrys'' up to in ''S. ballieui''.

Distribution and habitat

''Sebastapistes'' scorpionfishes are found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans from East Africa to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

and

Easter Island Easter Island (, ; , ) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is renowned for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, ...

. They are mostly species of shallow, tropical coastal waters but two species ''S. strongia'' and ''S. perplexa'' extend to temperate waters off Japan.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2005582 Scorpaenini Venomous fish Marine fish genera Taxa named by Theodore Gill