Family LEPTOSCOPIDAE

Leptoscopidae

© Copyright Ros Poole.

Museums

Regional Maps

External Links

Introduction

Members of the Leptoscopidae, the southern sandfishes, are restricted to the temperate regions of Australia and New Zealand where they bury themselves in sand in coastal environments. Currently, three genera and four species are known, with two genera and two described species recorded from Australia.

Last (2001) and Gomon & Last (2008) characterised the family, and Gomon & Last (2008) treated the Australian species, and Neira (1998) described the larvae. An undescribed species of Lesueurina is known from Australia (Neira & Gaughan, 1989). Leptoscopus macropygus (Richardson, 1846), supposedly described from New South Wales, is restricted to New Zealand (McDowall 1990).

Odani & Imamura (2011) proposed a close relationship with the Creediidae. Thacker et al. placed the family within the Uranoscopiformes, along with the Uranoscopidae, Cheimarrichthyidae, Ammodytidae and Pinguipedidae based on molecular studies.

Excluded Taxa

Misidentifications

LEPTOSCOPIDAE: Leptoscopus macropygus (Richardson, 1846) — McDowall, R.M. 1990. New Zealand Freshwater Fishes, a Natural History and Guide. New Zealand : Heinemann Reed 553 pp. (type locality of New South Wales apparently in error and species restricted to New Zealand)

General References

Gomon, M.F. & Last, P.R. 2008. Family Leptoscopidae. pp. 676-677 in Gomon, M.F., Bray, D.J. & Kuiter, R.H. (eds). Fishes of Australia's Southern Coast. Sydney : Reed New Holland 928 pp.

Last, P.R. 2001. Leptoscopidae. 3517 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. 6 pp. 3381-4218.

McDowall, R.M. 1990. New Zealand Freshwater Fishes, a Natural History and Guide. New Zealand : Heinemann Reed 553 pp.

Neira, F.J. 1998. Leptoscopidae. In, Neira, F.J., Miskiewicz, A.G. & Trnski, T. Larvae of temperate Australian fishes: laboratory guide for larval fish identification. Nedlands, Western Australia : University of Western Australia press 474 pp.

Odani, K. & Imamura, H. 2011. New phylogenetic proposal for the Family Leptoscopidae (Perciformes: Trachinoidei). Bulletin of Fisheries Sciences, Hokkaido University 61(2/3): 49-63

Thacker, C.E., Takashi P., Satoh, T.P., Katayama, T., Harrington, R.C., Eytan, R.I. & Near, T.J. 2015. Molecular phylogeny of Percomorpha resolves Trichonotus as the sister lineage to Gobioidei (Teleostei: Gobiiformes) and confirms the polyphyly of Trachinoidei. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 93: 172–179

Common Name References

Kuiter, R.H. 1993. Coastal Fishes of South-eastern Australia. Bathurst : Crawford House Press 437 pp. [318] (Pygmy Stargazers)

Last, P.R. 2001. Leptoscopidae. 3517 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. 6 pp. 3381-4218. [3517] (Southern Sandfishes)

Whitley, G.P. 1948. A list of the fishes of Western Australia. Western Australia Fish Department. Fisheries Bulletin 2: 1-35 map [27] (Surf Sandfishes)

History of changes