Antigonia (fish)

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Antigonia
Temporal range: Early Oligocene–present
Antigonia steindachneri.jpg
Deepbody boarfish, (A. capros)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Acanthuriformes
Family: Antigoniidae
Genus: Antigonia
R. T. Lowe, 1843
Type species
Antigonia capros
Lowe, 1843
Synonyms [1]

Antigonia is a genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Antigoniidae, the deepwater boarfishes, of which it is the only extant genus. This genus is found in the warmer oceans around the world.

Contents

Taxonomy

Antigonia was first proposed as a monospecific genus in 1843 by the English zoologist Richard Thomas Lowe when he described Antigonia capros as a new species. [1] When Lowe described A. capros he gave its type locality as Madeira. [2] The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies this genus in the Antigoniinae, a subfamily of the Caproidae, within the order Caproiformes, [3] as do other authorities. [4] However, other authorities classify this taxon as a family, the Antigoniidae, and classify and the Caproidae in the order Acanthuriformes. [5]

Fossil specimens of juvenile Antigonia are known from the Early Oligocene of Poland and Romania. A potential earlier specimen is known from the Middle Eocene of North Caucasus, Russia, but this classification is only tentative. An earlier specimen from the Early Eocene of Italy is now placed in its own genus, † Eoantigonia . [6] Potential even earlier records are known from the Early Eocene of New Zealand and Middle Eocene of Europe, but only from isolated otoliths. [7]

Etymology

Antigonia, the genus name, was not explained by Lowe but it is probably a combination of anti, meaning "against", and goneos, which means "ancestor". This may be reference to how A. capros is so distinctive yet seems to elucidate the ancestry of relayed forms which Lowe felt were randomly classified before he described A. capros. [8]

Species

Antigonia contains the following recognised species: [9]

The following otolith-based fossil species are also known: [6] [7]

Characteristics

Antigonia boarfishes have highly compressed, rhomboid shaped bodies with convex dorsal and ventral profiles. The small head bears bony ridges that radiate, has a concave dorsal profile and a clear crest along the nape. The eyes are large and the mouth is small, upward pointing, opens at the front and has protrusible jaws. The continuous dorsal fin has 8 or 9 spines, the third spine being the longest. The anal fin has 2 or 3 spines with the first spine being the longest. The anal spines are separated from the anal fin rays. The long bases of the soft rayed dorsal and anal fins have scaly sheaths. The roundly pointed pectoral fins have a single spine and 12 or 13 fin rays. [12] The largest species is the deepbody boarfish (A. capros) with a maximum published total length of 30.5 cm (12.0 in) while the smallest is A. kenyae at 4.4 cm (1.7 in). [9]

Distribution

Antigonia boarfishes are found in the tropical and temperate Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. [9]

References

  1. 1 2 Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Antigoniidae". Catalog of Fishes . California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  2. ↑ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Antigonia". Catalog of Fishes . California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  3. ↑ Nelson, Joseph S.; Grande, Terry C.; Wilson, Mark V. H. (2016). Fishes of the World (5th ed.). John Wiley & Sons. p. 507. ISBN   9781118342336.
  4. ↑ Betancur-R, Ricardo; Wiley, Edward O.; Arratia, Gloria; Acero, Arturo; Bailly, Nicolas; Miya, Masaki; Lecointre, Guillaume; Ortí, Guillermo (2017). "Phylogenetic classification of bony fishes". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 17 (1): 162. doi: 10.1186/s12862-017-0958-3 . ISSN   1471-2148. PMC   5501477 . PMID   28683774.
  5. ↑ "Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes Classification". California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  6. 1 2 Baciu, Dorin; Bannikov, A.; Tyler, James (2005). "Revision of the fossil fishes of the family Caproidae (Acanthomorpha)". Studi e ricerche sui giacimenti terziari di Bolca. 11: 7–74.
  7. 1 2 "PBDB Taxon". paleobiodb.org. Retrieved 2025-09-09.
  8. ↑ Christopher Scharpf (6 February 2024). "Order ACANTHURIFORMES (part 2): Families EPHIPPIDAE, LEIOGNATHIDAE, SCATOPHAGIDAE, ANTIGONIIDAE, SIGANIDAE, CAPROIDAE, LUVARIDAE, ZANCLIDAE and ACANTHURIDAE". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  9. 1 2 3 Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Antigonia". FishBase . February 2024 version.
  10. ↑ "PBDB Taxon". paleobiodb.org. Retrieved 2025-09-09.
  11. ↑ Schwarzhans, Werner (2019). Reconstruction of a fossil marine bony fish fauna (Teleostei) from the Eocene to Pleistocene of New Zealand by means of otoliths: with studies of recent congroid, morid and trachinoid otoliths (in German). Società Italiana di Scienze Naturali et del Museo di Storia Naturale di Milano.
  12. ↑ "Genus: Antigonia, Boarfish, Boarfishes". Shorefishes of the Greater Caribbean online information. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute . Retrieved 28 February 2024.
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