Kurtus

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Kurtus
Kurtus indicus.jpg
male Indian humphead (K. indicus)
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Kurtiformes
Family: Kurtidae
Bleeker, 1859
Genus: Kurtus
Bloch, 1786
Type species
Kurtus indicus
Bloch, 1786
Synonyms
  • CyrtusMinding, 1832
  • Curtus (misspelling)

Kurtus is a genus of percomorph fishes, called the nurseryfishes, forehead brooders, or incubator fish, native to fresh, brackish and coastal marine waters ranging from India, through southeast Asia to New Guinea and northern Australia. Kurtus is currently the only known genus in the family Kurtidae, [1] [2] one of two families in the order Kurtiformes. [3] They are famous for carrying their egg clusters on hooks protruding from the forehead (supraoccipital) of the males, although this only has been documented in K. gulliveri and available evidence strongly suggests this is not done by K. indicus (where the hook likely also is too small to carry embryos). [4] Females do not have a hook. [4]

Male Nurseryfish with embryos - photographed inside net by Time M. Berra Nurseryfish in net.jpg
Male Nurseryfish with embryos - photographed inside net by Time M. Berra

In addition to the egg hook, the kurtid gas bladder is enclosed in a tubular bony structure evolved from the ribs. In both species, the back is elevated into a hump shape.

Despite their unusual reproductive habits, little is known about these species. Historically they have proven very difficult to keep alive in aquaria, although recent success with K. gulliveri has been achieved by Tokyo Sea Life Park in Japan.

Species

The currently recognized species in this genus are: [5]

Related Research Articles

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<i>Archamia</i> Genus of fishes

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Kurtus gulliveri, the nurseryfish, is a species of fish in the family Kurtidae native to fresh and brackish waters in southern New Guinea and northern Australia. They can be found in estuaries, mangrove swamps, nipa swamps and slow-flowing rivers with high turbidity. This species can reach a length of 63 cm (25 in), although most are far smaller: In a study of its morphology, 159 specimens were examined and the largest was 33 cm (13 in), while the average was 14 cm (5.5 in). This species is famous for its unusual breeding strategy where the male carries the egg cluster on a hook protruding from the forehead (supraoccipital). Females do not have a hook. It feeds on crustaceans, small fish and insect larvae. This species is well regarded as food. The specific name honours a "Mr Gulliver" who collected the type, thought most likely to refer to Thomas Allen Gulliver (1847-1931) who worked on Australia's a post and telegraph services and who lived near the Norman River, Gulf of Carpentaria where he collected natural history specimens and where the type of this species was collected.

<i>Kurtus indicus</i> Species of fish

Kurtus indicus, the Indian humphead, is a species of fish in the family Kurtidae native to fresh, brackish, and marine waters of the coastal regions of southern Asia from India to southeast China and Indonesia. It resembles the closely related K. gulliveri, but is far smaller, only reaching a length of 12.6 cm (5 in). Although it has been suggested that the male carries the egg cluster on a hook protruding from the forehead, available evidence strongly suggests this is not the case in K. indicus: Out of several thousand examined, none carried eggs in this manner and the male's hook is likely also too small. The female lacks the hook entirely. It is of minor importance to local commercial fisheries.

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<i>Taeniamia fucata</i> Species of fish

Taeniamia fucata, commonly known as the orange-lined- or painted cardinalfish, is a marine fish native to reefs from northern Australia and New Guinea, across the Indian Ocean to the east coast of Africa, and Pacific Ocean to Marshall Islands, Samoa, Tonga, and the Ryukyu Islands. It was known as Archamia fucata until 2013. FishBase treats T. sansibaricus as synonymous with T. fucata. but T. sansibaricus is recognised as valid by the Catalog of Fishes:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kurtiformes</span> Order of fishes

The Kurtiformes consist of two extant families of ray-finned fish, the Indo-Pacific Kurtidae and the much more diverse and widespread Apogonidae. The order is part of the Percomorpha clade and is regarded by many authorities as a sister taxon to the Gobiiformes.

<i>Congrogadus</i> Genus of fishes

Congrogadus is a genus of ray-finned fishes, the type genus of the subfamily Congrogadinae, the eel blennies, part of the dottyback family, Pseudochromidae. The genus Congrogadus has an Indo-Pacific distribution.

References

  1. Johnson, G.D. & Gill, A.C. (1998). Paxton, J.R. & Eschmeyer, W.N. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. p. 189. ISBN   0-12-547665-5.
  2. Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2013). "Kurtidae" in FishBase . August 2013 version.
  3. J. S. Nelson; T. C. Grande; M. V. H. Wilson (2016). Fishes of the World (5th ed.). Wiley. p. 752. ISBN   978-1-118-34233-6.
  4. 1 2 Berra, Tim (2003). Nurseryfish, Kurtus gulliveri (Perciformes: Kurtidae), from northern Australia: redescription, distribution, egg mass, and comparison with K. indicus from southeast Asia. Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwaters 14(4): 295-306.
  5. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2013). Species of Kurtus in FishBase . August 2013 version.