The bicolored foxface (''Siganus uspi''), also known as the Uspi rabbitfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a rabbitfish belonging to the family

Siganidae Rabbitfishes or spinefoots are perciform fishes in the family Siganidae. The 29 species are in a single genus, ''Siganus''. In some now obsolete classifications, the species having prominent face stripes—colloquially called foxfaces– ...

. It is found at coral reefs in

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

in the Pacific Ocean. It occasionally makes its way into the aquarium trade.

Taxonomy

The bicolored foxface was first formally described in 1974 by

Michael J. Gawel Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...

& David J. Woodland with the

type locality Type locality may refer to: * Type locality (biology) * Type locality (geology) See also * Local (disambiguation) * Locality (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...

given as Joske Reef, 3 kilometers to the west of

Suva Suva () is the capital and largest city of Fiji. It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rewa Province, Central Divi ...

on Viti Levu, Fiji. 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 ...

adds a Latin

possessive A possessive or ktetic form (abbreviated or ; from la, possessivus; grc, κτητικός, translit=ktētikós) is a word or grammatical construction used to indicate a relationship of possession in a broad sense. This can include strict owne ...

“i” to the initials of the University of the South Pacific as that institution facilitated the authors’ studies of fishes in the South Pacific and as a thank you to the people of the region who support the University.

Description

The bicolored foxface has a laterally compressed deep body, its depth fitting roughly a little over twice into its

standard length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology. Overall length * Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish m ...

with a weakly forked caudal fin. The forward nostril opening is a very short tube which expands slightly to the rear of the nostril and it has a procumbent spine in front of the dorsal fin. Like all rabbitfishes, has 13 spines and 10 soft rays in the dorsal fin while 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 ...

has 7 spines and 9 soft rays. The fin spines hold venom glands. This species attains a maximum total length of . The overall colour is dark purplish brown apart from the yellow pectoral fins, soft rayed part of the dorsal and anal fins, the caudal fin, and rear part of body, the delineation of the 2 colours is clear.

Distribution and habitat

The bicolored foxface has only been recorded from Fiji, although there have been reports of vagrants off

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

, albeit unconfirmed. They are found at depths between in areas of hard corals on the slopes of drop-offs at the reef edges or in the deeper pools within the rest of reefs.

Biology

The bicolored foxface is a herbivore which feeds on seaweeds. The adults live in pairs while the juveniles form schools. This species produces venom in the spines of its fins. In a study of the venom of a congener it was found that rabbitfish venom was similar to the venom of

stonefishes Synanceiinae is a subfamily of venomous ray-finned fishes, waspfishes, which is classified as part of the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes and their relatives. These fishes are found in the Indo-Pacific oceans. They are primarily marine, ...

Conservation

The bicolored foxface is a species of shallow water which is endemic to Fiji and its population is probably very fragmented and it is apparently an uncommon to rare species. It favours coral reefsand so may be suffering from habitat loss in parts of its range which may lead to population declines. Coastal development and collection for the

aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...

trade will also impact the population. The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

consider that because of its small range and continued habitat decline, it is assessed as Near Threatened.

Utilisation

The bicolored foxface is collected for the aquarium trade using drive-in nets.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q4405589 Siganidae Fish described in 1974 Taxa named by David J. Woodland