Family DACTYLOPTERIDAE

Dactylopteridae, lateral view

© Copyright Ros Poole.

Dactylopteridae, dorsal view

© Copyright Ros Poole.

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Introduction

Members of the Dactylopteridae, the flying gurnards, were reviewed by Eschmeyer (1997) who recognised two genera and six species from the Atlantic, Indian and western Pacific Oceans; Dactylopterus is restricted to the Atlantic Ocean. Five species in the genus Dactyloptena have been collected from Australian waters.

Flying gurnards are primarily benthic marine fishes in tropical and warm temperate waters, from shallow to moderate depths. They feed on benthic invertebrates such as crabs, worms and shellfish. They have an elongate, squarish body that tapers posteriorly, with the head well armoured by a shield of united bones with strong pre-opercular and post-temporal spines. The spinous dorsal fin is preceded by one or two free spines and the long pectoral fins are large, wing-like and horizontally inserted. Maximum length for the family is 32 cm.

Imamura (2000) concluded that the posterior extension of the dactylopterid infra-orbital is not homologous with the scorpaeniform suborbital stay and that this group is a perciform, closely related to, and in the same family as, the Malacanthidae. Recent molecular studies, however, suggest that the family belongs in the Syngnathiformes (Kawahara et al. 2008). Here we follow Paxton et al. (2006) and Eschmeyer & Fong (2014) in retaining the family in the Scorpaeniformes until relationships are further resolved.

General References

Eschmeyer, W.N. 1997. A new species of Dactylopteridae (Pisces) from the Philippines and Australia, with a brief synopsis of the family. Bulletin of Marine Science 60(3): 727-738

Eschmeyer, W.N. & Fong, J.D. 2014. Species of Fishes by family/subfamily. Catalog of Fishes. Online version updated 19 May 2014. http://research.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/SpeciesByFamily.asp

Imamura, H. 2000. An alternate hypothesis on the phylogenetic position of the family Dactylopteridae (Pisces: Teleostei), with a proposed new classification. Ichthyological Research 47(3): 203-222

Kawahara, R., Miya, M., Mabuchi, K., Lavoue, S., Inoue, J.G., Takashi, P., Kawaguchi, A. & Nishida, M. 2008. Interrelationships of the 11 gasterosteiform families (sticklebacks, pipefishes, and their relatives): A new perspective based on mitogenome sequences from 75 higher teleosts. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 46(1): 224–236

Paxton, J.R., Gates, J.E., Bray, D.J. & Hoese, D.F. 2006. Dactylopteridae. pp. 863-865 in Hoese, D.F., Bray, D.J., Paxton, J.R. & Allen, G.R. Fishes. In, Beesley, P.L. & Wells, A. (eds) Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Vol. 35. Volume 35 Australia : ABRS & CSIRO Publishing Parts 1-3, 2178 pp.

Common Name References

Poss, S.G. & Eschmeyer, W.N. 1999. Family Dactylopteridae. pp. 2283-2290 in Carpenter, K.E. & Niem, T.H. (eds). The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fisheries Purposes. Rome : FAO Vol. 4 pp. 2069-2790. [2283] (FAO) (Flying Gurnards, Helmet Gurnards)

Sainsbury, K.J., Kailola, P.J. & Leyland, G.G. 1984. Continental Shelf Fishes of Northern and North-Western Australia. Canberra : Fisheries Information Service 375 pp. figs & pls. [122] (Flying-gurnards)

Whitley, G.P. 1948. A list of the fishes of Western Australia. Western Australia Fish Department. Fisheries Bulletin 2: 1-35 map [30] (Flying Gurnards)

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