Family MICROCANTHIDAE

Museums

Regional Maps

Introduction

As recognised here, the family contains four genera and at least five species. However, some workers treat the disjunct populations of Microcanthus strigatus as separate species (Kuiter 2002). The genera are sometimes included with the Scorpididae. We follow Johnson (1984) and Johnson & Fritsche (1989) in treating the family (along with the Scorpididae and Girellidae) as separate from the Kyphosidae. Gosline (1985) reviewed the early classification of the groups. Nelson (2006) recognised the various the groups as subfamilies of the Kyphosidae. Australian workers have sometimes treated them as families (Gomon 2008) or as subfamilies (Hoese et al. (2006). Neira et al. (1997) described larvae of the groups recognising them as separate families. Molecular studies (Yagishita et al. 2002) did not find evidence for a single large Kyphosidae. Consequently we revert here to the previous classification pending further studies.

Australian species are treated in Kuiter (2002) and Carpenter (2001).

 

General References

Carpenter, K.E. 2001. Girellidae, Scorpididae, Microcanthidae. pp. 3297-3303 in Carpenter, K.E. & Niem, V.H. (eds). The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fisheries Purposes. Rome : FAO Vol. 5 2791-3379 pp.

Gomon, M.F. 2008. Families Monodactylidae, Arripidae, Kyphosidae, Girellidae, Microcanthidae, Scorpididae. pp. 596-607 in Gomon, M.F., Bray, D.J. & Kuiter, R.H. (eds). Fishes of Australia's Southern Coast. Sydney : Reed New Holland 928 pp.

Gosline, W. 1985. Relationships among some relatively deep-bodied percoid fish groups. Japanese Journal of Ichthyology 31(4): 351-357

Hoese, D.F. & Bray, D.J. 2006. Family Kyphosidae. pp. 1317-1327 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.

Johnson, G.D. 1984. Percoidei: development and relationships. pp. 464-498 figs 254-264 in Moser, H.G. et al. (eds). Ontogeny and Systematics of Fishes. American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. Special Publication 1: 1-760

Johnson, G.D. & Fritzsche, R.A. 1989. Graus nigra, an omnivorous girellid, with comparative osteology and comments on relationships of the Girellidae (Pisces: Perciformes). Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 141: 1-27

Kuiter, R.H. 2002. Butterflyfishes, Bannerfishes and their Relatives. Chorleywood, U.K. : TMC Publishing 208 pp.

McCulloch, A.R. & Waite, E.R. 1916. Additions to the fish fauna of Lord Howe Island. No. 5. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 40: 437-451 pls 40-43 [pl. 40 (fig. 3)]

Neira, F.J. Miskiewicz, A.G. & Bruce, B.D. 1997. Larvae of five fish families with pattern 10 of the ramus lateralis accessorius nerve (Arripidae, Girellidae, Kyphosidae, Microcanthidae and Scorpididae): relevance to relationships. Bulletin of Marine Science 60(1): 117-138

Nelson, J.S. 2006. Fishes of the World. Hoboken, New Jersey : John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 601 pp.

Yagishita, N., Kobayashi, T. & Nakabo, T. 2002. Review of monophyly of the Kyphosidae (sensu Nelson, 1994), inferred from the mitochondrial ND2 gene. Ichthyological Research 49(2): 103-108

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
		25-Feb-2012	ADDED