Apletodon pellegrini

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Apletodon pellegrini
Apletodon pellegrini 15565731.jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Gobiesociformes
Family: Gobiesocidae
Genus: Apletodon
Species:
A. pellegrini
Binomial name
Apletodon pellegrini
(Chabanaud, 1925)
Synonyms [1]
  • Lepadogaster pellegriniChabanaud, 1925
  • Apletodon knysnaensisSmith, 1964

Apletodon pellegrini, the chubby clingfish, is a species of clingfish of the family Gobiesocidae. The species is found in the Eastern Atlantic, from Madeira, Cape Verde, Canary Islands, Annobon Islands, mainland shore from Cape Blanco south to Port Alfred, South Africa.

Contents

Description

The chubby clingfish reaches a length of 5.0 cm (2.0 in). [2] It is short with a fat triangular head that tapers to a narrow tail. It ranges from nearly white to pink to dark maroon in colour and may have dark (if mostly pale) or light (if mostly dark) blotches covering its skin. These blotches are not present in all individuals. The pelvic fins are modified to form sucker, which the fish uses to attach itself to smooth, flat surfaces. [3] The anus is surrounded by papillae. [4] It usually has a pale line between the eyes. This may form a triangle in some specimens. [3] It has large but rounded incisor-like teeth on both jaws at the front of the mouth, particularly in dult males. [4]

Ecology

Behaviour

This fish has a distinctive J-shaped form when resting, with the tail curled towards the head. They will often attach themselves to the insides of flat shells on the sea floor. [3]

Reproduction

Females lay eggs inside shells at various times during the year. She guards the shell and the transparent eggs inside. After they hatch, small round marks can be seen on the shell to which the eggs were attached. The juveniles hide themselves while they grow and mid-sized fish can be found a couple of weeks later. [3]

Etymology

The cling fish is named in honor of French ichthyologist Jacques Pellegrin (1873-1944). [5]

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gobiesocidae</span> Family of fishes

Clingfishes are fishes of the family Gobiesocidae, the only family in the order Gobiesociformes. These fairly small to very small fishes are widespread in tropical and temperate regions, mostly near the coast, but a few species in deeper seas or fresh water. Most species shelter in shallow reefs or seagrass beds, clinging to rocks, algae and seagrass leaves with their sucking disc, a structure on their chest.

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Dellichthys is a small genus of clingfishes from the family Gobiesocidae which are endemic to New Zealand. It had been regarded as a monotypic genus but a second species was described in 2018.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kuiter's deepsea clingfish</span> Species of fish

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Modicus tangaroa is a clingfish of the family Gobiesocidae, found only around New Zealand where it occurs on coarse substrates consisting of shell fragments and bryozoa at depths of 20–149 metres (66–489 ft). This species was described by Grahma S Hardy in 1983 from types collected from the research vessel Tangoroa over the Ranfurly Bank, East Cape in New Zealand, the species was named after the vessel.

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Apletodon is a genus of marine fish in the family Gobiesocidae (clingfishes). The genus was first named by John Carmon Briggs in 1955.

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Propherallodus briggsi is a species of clingfish native to the coasts of Japan. This species grows to a length of 3 centimetres (1.2 in) SL. This species is the only known member of its genus, it was described by Masaru Shiogaki and Yoshie Dotsu in 1983 with a type locality of Meshima Island, Japan. Its specific name honours the American ichthyologist John "Jack" C. Briggs (1920–2018).

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Lepadogaster candolii, common name Connemarra clingfish, is a species of fish in the genus Lepadogaster. It occurs in the Eastern Atlantic from the British Isles south to Madeira and the Canary Islands and into the western Mediterranean and the Black Sea. The specific name candolii honours the Swiss botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle (1778-1841) and has various spellings: candolii, candolei, candollei, and decandollii, but only the first one is correct. Some workers have found that L. candolii is not closely related to the other two species in the genus Lepadogaster and have proposed the placing of this species in the revived monotypic genus Mirbelia Canestrini, 1864, at least until more definitive taxonomic studies can be undertaken.

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<i>Diplecogaster bimaculata</i> Species of fish

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<i>Opeatogenys gracilis</i> Species of fish

Opeatogenys gracilis is a species of clingfish from the family Gobiesocidae which is found in the Mediterranean Sea and in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. Suggested common names for this species are the pygmy clingfish and the seagrass clingfish.

Opeatogenys cadenati is a species of clingfish from the family Gobiesocidae. It occurs in the eastern Atlantic and has been recorded off Ghana, Senegal and Morocco, as well as off the Canary Islands. This species was described by John C. Briggs in 1957 with a type locality of Chenal de Joal off Senegal. Briggs honoured the French ichthyologist Jean Cadenat (1908-1992) who was Director of the Marine Biological Section of the Institut Français d’Afrique Noire in Gorée, Senegal.

References

  1. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2019). "Apletodon pellegrini" in FishBase. April 2019 version.
  2. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2015). "Apletodon pellegrini" in FishBase . February 2015 version.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Zsilavecz, Guido (2005). Coastal fishes of the Cape Peninsula and False Bay : a divers' identification guide. Cape Town: Southern Underwater Research Group. ISBN   0-620-34230-7. OCLC   70133147.
  4. 1 2 Penrith, ML and Penrith, M. J. (1970). Note on the differentiation of two sympatrically occurring clingfishes in the Western Cape. South African Journal of Science, 66(12), 392.
  5. Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara (7 February 2019). "Order GOBIESOCIFORMES (Clingfishes)". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 1 March 2022.