Congiopodus

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Congiopodus
Congiopodus spinifer 1.jpg
Spinenose horsefish (C. spinifer)
Agriopus torvus - MHNT - ICHT.1995.111.jpg
Smooth horsefish (C. torvus)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Suborder: Scorpaenoidei
Family: Congiopodidae
Gill, 1889
Genus: Congiopodus
Perry, 1811 [1]
Type species
Congiopodus percatus, a synonym of Blennius torvus
Perry, 1811 [1]

Congiopodus, commonly known as pigfishes, horsefishes and racehorses, is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes, the only genus in the family Congiopodidae. These fishes are found in the southern Atlantic and Pacific oceans. [2]

Contents

Taxonomy

Congiopodus was first formally described as a genus in 1811 by the English naturalist George Perry when he described Congiopodus percatus, the type species by monotypy. Subsequently, Perry's species was shown to be a junior synonym of Blennius torvus which had been described by the Dutch zoologist Laurens Theodorus Gronow in 1772, with an erroneous type locality of the Indian Ocean given for this southern African species. [1] [3]

The genus is the type genus of the family Congiopodidae. In the past, three other genera ( Perryena , Alertichthys , and Zanclorhynchus ) were classified in this family [4] , but more recent authorities have found such a placement to be paraphyletic and regard this family as monogeneric. [1] [5] The family is placed in the suborder Scorpaenoidei which in turn is classified within the order Scorpaeniformes in that book, but more recent authorities classify Scorpaenoidei within the Perciformes. [6]

The name of the genus was not explained by Perry but may be a combination of the Greek gongulos, meaning "round", and podus, which means "foot", maybe referring to the roundish pelvic fins of C. percatus. [7]

Species

There are currently six recognised species in this genus: [8]

Characteristics

Congiopodus pigfishes have a compressed body with a prominent snout, a terminal mouth and a single nostril on each side. It has small gill openings over the pectoral fins. They sometimes have no scales and, if they are present, they are tiny and spiny. The pelvic and pectoral fins have narrow bases and few unbranched fin rays. There are no sharp spines in the anal fin while the dorsal fin has between 14 and 21 spines and 11 and 14 soft rays. [9] These are medium sized fishes with the largest species being C. torvus which has a maximum published total length of 76 cm (30 in). [8]

Distribution and habitat

Congiopodus pigfishes are found in the southern Pacific and southern Atlantic Oceans. [8] They are demersal fishes with some species in shallow coastal waters and others living in deeper waters. [10]

Biology

One Congiopodid, Congiopodus peruvianus, is found in the shallow South American waters. In this species the adult's dorsal fin is relatively shorter than the juvenile's fin, but they all resemble yellow and orange dead tree leaves. [11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Congiopodidae". Catalog of Fishes . California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 19 May 2022.
  2. ↑ Fricke, R.; Eschmeyer, W. N.; Van der Laan, R. (2025). "ESCHMEYER'S CATALOG OF FISHES: CLASSIFICATION". California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 2025-02-10.
  3. ↑ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Congiopodus". Catalog of Fishes . California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 19 May 2022.
  4. ↑ J. S. Nelson; T. C. Grande; M. V. H. Wilson (2016). Fishes of the World (5th ed.). Wiley. p. 475. ISBN   978-1-118-34233-6. Archived from the original on 2019-04-08. Retrieved 2022-05-19.
  5. ↑ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Congiopodidae". Catalog of Fishes . California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  6. ↑ Ricardo Betancur-R; Edward O. Wiley; Gloria Arratia; et al. (2017). "Phylogenetic classification of bony fishes". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 17 (162): 162. doi: 10.1186/s12862-017-0958-3 . PMC   5501477 . PMID   28683774.
  7. ↑ Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara, eds. (10 March 2022). "Order Perciformes (Part 10): Suborder Scorpaenoidei: Families Apistidae, Tetrarogidae, Synanceiidae, Aploacrinidae, Perryenidae, Eschmeyeridae, Pataecidae, Gnathanacanthidae, Congiopodidae and Zanclorhynchidae". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
  8. 1 2 3 Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Congiopodus". FishBase . February 2022 version.
  9. ↑ C.D. Paulin and J.M. Moreland (1979). "Congiopodus coriaceus, a new species of pig fish, and a redescription of C. leucopaecilus (Richardson), from New Zealand (Pisces: Congiopodidae)". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 6 (4): 601–608. doi: 10.1080/03014223.1979.10428402 .
  10. ↑ McMillan, P.J.; Francis, M.P.; James, G.D.; et al. (2011). New Zealand fishes. Volume 1: A field guide to common species caught by bottom and midwater fishing. New Zealand Aquatic Environment and Biodiversity Report. Ministry of Fisheries. pp. 198–200. ISSN   1176-9440.
  11. ↑ Betti, F., Daneri, G. (2020). "Leaf-like morphology and behaviour of juvenile horsefish (Congiopodus peruvianus) (Scorpaeniformes: Congiopodidae) from Chilean Patagonia". Mar Biodiv. 49 (6): 2493–2494. Bibcode:2019MarBd..49.2493B. doi:10.1007/s12526-019-01019-w.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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