Siganidae, the rabbitfishes, are a small family of ray-finned fishes in the order Perciformes. The only extant genus is Siganus, the rabbitfish and spinefoot.[3][4] However, a number of genera are known from fossils.[1]
| Siganidae Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| |
| Marbled spinefoot (Siganus rivulatus) | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Perciformes |
| Superfamily: | Siganoidea |
| Family: | Siganidae Richardson, 1837[2] |
The extant species are marine fish found in the Indo-Pacific and eastern Mediterranean. They are important foodfishes and some are popular in the aquarium trade.[3]
Taxonomy edit
The Siganidae was first formally described as a family in 1837 by the Scottish naval surgeon, naturalist and arctic explorer Sir John Richardson.[2] The genus Siganus was described in 1775 by the Danish zoologist Johan Christian Fabricius with Siganus rivulatus, a species also described by Fabricius in 1775, designated as the type species. The description was based on notes taken by the naturalist Peter Forsskål when he was on the Danish Arabia expedition (1761–67) and was published in Carsten Niebuhr's Descriptiones animalium avium, amphibiorum, piscium, insectorum, vermium; quae in itinere orientali observavit Petrus Forskål. Post mortem auctoris edidit Carsten Niebuhr. Catalog of Fishes lists the authority as "Fabricius [J. C.] (ex Forsskål) in Niebuhr 1775" and states that the genus is valid as "Siganus Fabricius 1775".[4]
Carl Linnaeus originally described the genus Teuthis, with the type species being Teuthis hepatus. One of the type specimens he used looks like Siganus javus, although the other is definitely not a rabbitfish, and the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature has been asked to suppress the name Teuthis in favour of Siganus to reflect the prevailing usage.[5]
The family Siganidae is classified as one of two families in the superfamily Siganoidea, within the suborder Percoidei of the order Perciformes in the 5th edition of Fishes of the World. In other classifications it is classified as a family within the order Acunthuriformes,[6] or as one of a group of families classified as incertae sedis within the series Eupercaria.[3]
Genera edit
There is one extant genus[3][4] and six extinct ones:[1]
- †Acanthopygaeus Leriche, 1906
- †Aspesiganus Bannikov and Tyler, 2002
- †Eosiganus Tyler and Bannikov, 1997
- †Protosiganus Whitley, 1935
- †Ruffoichthys Sorbini, 1983
- †Siganopygaeus Daniltshenko, 1968
- Siganus Fabricius, 1775
References edit
- ^ a b c "Family Siganidae (ray-finned fish)". Paleobiology Database. Fossilworks. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
- ^ a b Richard van der Laan; William N. Eschmeyer & Ronald Fricke (2014). "Family-group names of Recent fishes". Zootaxa. 3882 (2): 1–230. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
- ^ a b c d Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2023). "Siganidae" in FishBase. October 2023 version.
- ^ a b c Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Siganidae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
- ^ Maurice Kottelat (2013). "The fishes of the inland waters of southeast Asia: a catalogue and core bibliography of the fishes known to occur in freshwaters, mangroves and estuaries". Raffles Bulletin of Zoology (Supplement No. 27).
- ^ Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara, eds. (12 January 2021). "Order Acanthuriformes (part 2): Families Ephippidae, Leiognathidae, Scatophagidae, Antigoniidae, Siganidae, Caproidae, Luvaridae, Zanclidae and Acanthuridae". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 21 August 2021.