Family TETRAROGIDAE

Tetrarogidae

© Copyright from Whitley 1952.

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Introduction

The Tetrarogidae, often included as a subfamily of the Scorpaenidae (Nelson 1994, 2006), currently comprise 16 genera and about 45 species (Poss & Eschmeyer 1975; Ishida 1994). In Australia, 11 genera and 16 described species are known.

Tetrarogids are found in the Indo-west Pacific and off southern Africa in the south-eastern Atlantic. Species generally occur in a variety of coastal marine and estuarine habitats; Notesthes is confined to fresh water. They have venomous spines and wounds received by humans from these spines can be excruciatingly painful. Maximum size is 81 cm, but most species are less than 15 cm.

General References

Allen, G.R., Hoese, D.F., Cross, N.J. & Bray, D.J. 2006. Tetrarogidae. pp. 896-902 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. [896]

Ishida, M. 1994. Phylogeny of the suborder Scorpaenoidei (Pisces: Scorpaeniformes). Bulletin of Nansei National Fisheries Research Institute 27: 1-112

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

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

Poss, S.G. & Eschmeyer, W.N. 1975. The Indo-west Pacific scorpionfish genus Ocosia Jordan and Starks (Scorpaenidae, Tetraroginae), with description of three new species. Matsya 1: 1-18

Whitley, G.P. 1952. Some noteworthy fishes from eastern Australia. Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales 1950–51: 27-32 figs 1-5

Common Name References

Nelson, J.S. 1994. Fishes of the World. New York : John Wiley & Sons 600 pp. [311] (Sailback Scorpionfishes, Wasp Fishes)

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