Family TRICHONOTIDAE

Trichonotidae

© Copyright Ros Poole.

Trichonotus elegans from Lizard Island, Queensland

© Copyright D.F. Hoese

Museums

Regional Maps

External Links

Introduction

The Trichonotidae is restricted to the Indo-west Pacific. Currently, one genus is recognised (Nelson 1994). Ten species are now known, of which three are recorded from Australia (Katayama & Endo 2010; Katayama et al. 2012).

Sanddivers may either hover above sand or perch on sand adjacent to coral reefs or dive headfirst into sand. Some species, however, are known from silty to muddy bottoms. They have a distinctive elongate body and a strongly projecting lower jaw. Maximum size reached is 20 cm.

Originally, Nelson (1994) recognised six species and Randall & Tarr (1994) increased that to seven with the addition of a new species; Randall & Tarr also provided a key to species, as did Nelson (2001). Clark & Pohle (1996) described Trichonotus halstead from southern New Guinea, a species that may occur in Australia. The family requires revision. Katayama & Endo (2010) redescribed Trichonotus blochii, which had not been recognised by previous workers.

Nelson (1986) discussed features distinguishing the family from the Creediidae. Smith & Johnson (2007) included three subfamilies, treated here as families, the Trichonotinae, Creediinae and Hemerocoetinae. Thacker et al. (2015) placed the Creediidae and Hemicoroetidae in a separate suborder and proposed the Trichonotidae as a sister group to gobioid fishes.

General References

Clark, E. & Pohle, M. 1996. Trichonotus halstead, a new sand-diving fish from Papua New Guinea. Environmental Biology of Fishes 45: 1-11

Katayama, E., Motomura, H. & Endo, H. 2012. A new species of Trichonotus (Perciformes: Trichonotidae) from Somalia and redescription of Trichonotus cyclograptus (Alcock, 1890) with designation of a lectotype. Zootaxa 3565: 31–43

Katayama, E. & Endo, H. 2010. Redescription of a sanddiver, Trichonotus blochii (Actinopterygii: Perciformes: Trichonotidae), with confimation of its validity. Species Diversity 15(1): 1-10

Nelson, J.S. 1986. Some characters of the Trichonotidae, with emphasis to those distinguishing it from the Creediidae (Perciformes: Trachinoidei). Japanese Journal of Ichthyology 33(1): 1-16

Nelson, J.S. 1994. Fishes of the World. New York : John Wiley & Sons 600 pp.

Nelson, J.S. 2001. Trichonotidae, Creediidae, Percophidae. pp. 3511-3516 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.

Randall, J.E. & Tarr, A.B. 1994. Trichonotus arabicus (Perciformes: Trichonotidae), a new species of sand diver from the Arabian Gulf and Oman. Fauna of Saudi Arabia 14: 309-316

Smith, D.G. & Johnson, G.D. 2007. A new species of Pteropsaron (Teleostei: Trichonotidae: Hemerocoetinae) from the western Pacific, with notes on related species. Copeia 2007(2): 364–377

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

Nelson, J.S. 2001. Trichonotidae, Creediidae, Percophidae. pp. 3511-3516 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. [3511] (Sanddivers)

History of changes