Stichaeus

Stichaeus Temporal range: Miocene to present PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Arctic shanny (Sticheus punctatus)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Stichaeidae
Subfamily:	Stichaeinae
Genus:	Stichaeus Reinhardt, 1836
Type species
Gobius punctatus Fabricius, 1780 [1]
Synonyms [1]
Dinogunellus Herzenstein, 1890 Notogrammus T.H. Bean, 1881

Stichaeus is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Stichaeidae, the pricklebacks or shannies. These fishes are mainly found in the North Pacific Ocean with one species in the Arctic and western North Atlantic Oceans.

Taxonomy

Stichaeus was first proposed as a monospecific genus in 1836 by the Danish zoologist Johan Reinhardt with Blennius punctatus, which was described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1780 from western Greenland, designated as the type species. ^{[1] [2]} This genus is classified within the subfamily Stichaeinae of the Zoarcoid family Stichaeidae. ^[3]

Species

Stichaeus contains 6 extant species and 2 known extinct species, as follows: ^{[4] [5] [6]}

• † Stichaeus brachigrammus Nazarkin, 1998
• Stichaeus fuscus Miki & Maruyama, 1986
• Stichaeus grigorjewi Herzenstein 1890
• Stichaeus nozawae Jordan & Snyder, 1902
• † Stichaeus matsubarai Niino, 1951
• Stichaeus ochriamkini Taranetz, 1935
• Stichaeus pulcherrimus Taranetz, 1935
• Stichaeus punctatus (Fabricius, 1780)

† means extinct

Etymology

The genus name, Stichaeus means "to set in a row", and is presumed to refer to the row of 5 or 6 circular spots on the dorsal fin. ^[7]

Characteristics

Stichaeus species have moderately elongated, laterally compressed bodies which are covered in tiny cycloid scales, although the head is scaleless. There are teeth on the jaws, vomer and palatine. The teeth on the upper jaw are arranged in between two and four rows while those in the lower jaw form a single row. The jaws are equal in length or the lower jaw may just protrude beyond the upper jaw. The head has a number of sensory canals which are made up of pores and are used to sense vibrations. The single lateral line does not reach the caudal fin and appears to be an extension of the post orbital sensory canal. The anal fin has no rear spines. ^[8] These fishes vary in length from a maximum published standard length of 7.9 cm (3.1 in) in S. fuscus while the largest species are S. grigorjewi and S. nozawae which have maximum published total lengths of 60 cm (24 in). ^[4]

Distribution and habitat

Stichaeus fishes are largely found in the northwestern Pacific vut one species, S. punctatus extends into the western Arctic Ocean and the north western Atlantic Ocean. These are coastal fishes but can be found to depths of 300 m (980 ft). ^[3]

References

1. Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Stichaeinae". Catalog of Fishes . California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 8 August 2022.
2. Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Stichaeopsis". Catalog of Fishes . California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 25 August 2022.
3. Mecklenburg, C. W. and B. A. Sheiko (2004). "Family Stichaeidae Gill 1864 — pricklebacks" (PDF). California Academy of Sciences Annotated Checklists of Fishes. 35.
4. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Stichaeus". FishBase . February 2022 version.
5. Mikhail Valerievich Nazarkin (1998). "New Stichaeid Fishes (Stichaeidae, Perciformes) from Miocene of Sakhalin". Journal of Ichthyology. 38 (4): 279–291.
6. Niino, H. (1951). "Description of Some Fossil Fishes and Prawns from Japan". Journal of the Tokyo University of Fisheries. 38 (1): 47–58.
7. Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara, eds. (4 July 2021). "Order Perciformes (Part 11): Suborder Cottoidea: Infraorder Zoarcales: Families: Anarhichadidae, Neozoarcidae, Eulophias, Stichaeidae, Lumpenidae, Ophistocentridae, Pholidae, Ptilichthyidae, Zaproridae, Cryptacanthodidae, Cebidichthyidae, Scytalinidae and Bathymasteridae". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
8. G.U. Lindberg (1989). Fishes of the Sea of Japan and the Adjacent Areas of the Sea of Okhotsk and the Yellow Sea Part 4. Smithsonian Institution Libraries and National Science Foundation.