Sicyases sanguineus

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Sicyases sanguineus
Sicyases sanguineus.jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Gobiesociformes
Family: Gobiesocidae
Genus: Sicyases
Species:
S. sanguineus
Binomial name
Sicyases sanguineus

Sicyases sanguineus is a species of amphibious marine clingfish in the family Gobiesocidae. It lives in the Southeast Pacific along the entire coast of Chile and southern Peru. [1] [2]

Contents

Locally, it is known as pejesapo (literally, frog-fish). It inhabits shallow waters, including the intertidal zone. It can often be seen on exposed rocks above water, where it is able to breathe via the branchial surfaces and the skin. As long as it is kept moist by the splash of the wave action, it can survive for up to three days on land. [2] [3] Together with Chorisochismus dentex of southern Africa, it is the largest species of clingfish at up to 30 cm (12 in) long. [3]

Habitat

The fish is characteristic of vertical rock walls in the middle and upper rocky intertidal community along the exposed coasts of Pacific coast of South America, ranging from southern Peru to southern Chile. [4] Its niche is unique, with no known parallel development in other rocky intertidal communities. The most likely determinants of the distribution of Sicyases sanguineus are areas where vertical rocky shorelines encounter ocean swells and ample benthic prey. [2]

Sicyases sanguineus attaches by means of a large disc formed of the fused and highly modified pelvic fins, bearing small and flattened dermal papillae. [5] The combination of suction by disc and adhesion by papillae secure the clingfish to the rock. [6]

Behavior

Details of the sucking disc (Sicyases sanguineus viewed from below with mouth at top) Sicyases sanguineus sucker.jpg
Details of the sucking disc (Sicyases sanguineus viewed from below with mouth at top)

When young, S. sanguineus is gregarious and often congregates on walls. They are alert and can detect moving objects over distances from 10–15 m (33–49 ft). [2] However, adults are quiescent and cluster on exposed rocks often well above water level. [7] Among the many places where they can be seen are the boulder fields in Pozo Toyo and Antofagasta Bay, Chile. [2]

Feeding

Sicyases sanguineus is omnivorous, feeding on a wide range of algae (brown, green and red) and many types of invertebrates (especially molluscs such as chitons, marine snails, limpets and mussels, and barnacles, but also crabs, isopods, amphipods, insect larvae and sea urchins). They only take relatively small animals. For example, they have been observed living in apparent peace with large chitons and limpets, whereas the small individuals are eaten by this clingfish. [2]

As known from some other clingfish, Sicyases sanguineus has relatively large, protruding front teeth on the upper jaw. The front teeth on the lower jaw are shorter and more chisel-like. When feeding on algae, they scrape the teeth along the rock surface, leaving distinctive marks. [2]

Other methods are used when feeding on molluscs like limpets. The most common way for the fish to connect itself to a flat smooth surface with its ventral sucker. It then repeatedly swings its head in a small arc, raking its teeth downward in strokes. [6] A second mode in which Sicyases sanguineus feed on them is to insert its teeth on the limpet's shell and then twist. This produces a characteristic break into the shell posteriorly and anteriorly. [6]

Related Research Articles

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Intertidal zone Area of coast exposed only at low tide

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Gobiesocidae Family of fishes

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Tasmanian clingfish Species of fish

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<i>Chiton glaucus</i>

Chiton glaucus, common name the green chiton or the blue green chiton, is a species of chiton, a marine polyplacophoran mollusk in the family Chitonidae, the typical chitons. It is the most common chiton species in New Zealand. Chiton glaucus is part of a very primitive group of mollusc with evidence of being present in up to 80 million years of the fossil record.

<i>Loxechinus albus</i>

Loxechinus albus is an echinoderm of the family Parechinidae, native to coastal southern South America, ranging from Ecuador, along the entire coasts of Peru and Chile, to Argentina, as well as the Falkland Islands. It is known as the Chilean sea urchin or red sea urchin, but the latter name is typically used for the North Pacific Mesocentrotus franciscanus and it is not the only species of sea urchin in Chile. L. albus is found on rocky reefs and shores in the intertidal and subtidal zones to a depth of 340 m (1,120 ft).

<i>Austromegabalanus psittacus</i> Species of barnacle

Austromegabalanus psittacus, the giant barnacle or picoroco as it is known in Spanish, is a species of large barnacle native to the coasts of southern Peru, all of Chile and southern Argentina. It inhabits the littoral and intertidal zones of rocky shores and normally grows up to 30 centimetres (12 in) tall with a mineralized shell composed of calcite. The picoroco barnacle is used in Chilean cuisine and is one of the ingredients in curanto.

<i>Lottia gigantea</i> Species of gastropod

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<i>Patella ferruginea</i> Species of gastropod

Patella ferruginea, commonly known as the ribbed Mediterranean limpet, is a species of sea snail, a true limpet, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Patellidae, one of the families of true limpets. It is a large limpet, native to the western Mediterranean Sea, and although common in the past, it is now rare and restricted to only a few locations.

<i>Scutellastra longicosta</i> Species of gastropod

Scutellastra longicosta, the long-spined limpet or the duck's foot limpet, is a species of true limpet, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Patellidae, one of the families of true limpets. It is native to the coasts of South Africa where it is found on the foreshore. It cultivates a species of crustose brown algae in a "garden".

Mopalia ciliata is a chiton in the genus Mopalia, commonly known as the hairy chiton. It is a medium-sized marine mollusc up to 5.0 cm in length. It is oval shaped with 8 separate moderately elevated, overlapping ridged valves on its dorsal surface. It resides along the coast of North America.

<i>Chorisochismus</i> Genus of fishes

Chorisochismus dentex, the rocksucker or giant clingfish, is a species of clingfish found along the coast of southern Africa from Namibia to northern Natal, South Africa. It inhabits the intertidal and subtidal zones in shallow reefs and rock pools. This species is the only known member of its genus.

<i>Kopua</i> Genus of fishes

Kopua is a genus of clingfishes found in the Pacific Ocean.

<i>Spongites yendoi</i>

Spongites yendoi is a species of crustose red seaweed with a hard, calcareous skeleton in the family Corallinaceae. It is found on the lower shore as part of a diverse community in the southeastern Atlantic Ocean and the Indo-Pacific Ocean.

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

Diplecogaster bimaculata, the two-spotted clingfish, is a species of fish in the family Gobiesocidae found in Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean where it is found on rocks and among seagrass or shell beds.

<i>Cheilodactylus variegatus</i> Species of fish

Cheilodactylus variegatus, the Peruvian morwong or bilagai, is a species of ray-finned fish found in the southeastern Pacific Ocean off the western coast of South America. Although traditionally included in the genus Cheilodactylus in family Cheilodactylidae, based on genetic and morphological analyses it belongs in the genus Chirodactylus in family Latridae.

<i>Acanthopleura echinata</i>

Acanthopleura echinata is a Southeast Pacific species of edible chiton, a marine polyplacophoran mollusc in the family Chitonidae, the typical chitons.

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

References

  1. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2006). "Sicyases sanguineus" in FishBase . April 2006 version.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R. T. Pain & A. R. Palmer (1978). "Sicyases sanguineus: a unique trophic generalist from the Chilean intertidal zone" (PDF). Copeia . 1: 75–81. doi:10.2307/1443824. JSTOR   1443824.
  3. 1 2 Graham, J.B., ed. (1997). Air-Breathing Fishes: Evolution, Diversity, and Adaptation . Academic Press. pp.  41-42. ISBN   0-12-294860-2.
  4. F. de Buen (1960). "Los peje-sapos (familia Gobiesocidae) en Chile". Revista de Biología Marina y Oceanografía . 10: 69–82.
  5. J. C. Briggs (1955). "A monograph of the clingfishes (order Xenopterygii)". Stanford Ichthyological Bulletin . 6: 1–224.
  6. 1 2 3 Alfred W. Ebeling, Patricio Bernal & Alejandro Zuleta (1970). "Emersion of the amphibious Chilean clingfish, Sicyases sanguineus". The Biological Bulletin . 139: 115–137. doi:10.2307/1540131. JSTOR   1540131. PMID   29332484.
  7. F. Vargas & J. Chonca (1957). "Histología y técnica de extirpación de las glándulas adrenales en el teleosteo Sicyases sanguineus". Investigaciones Zoológicas Chilenas . 3: 81–87.