Thornfish

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iThornfishes
Thornfish, Bovichtus variegatus Drawing by Dr Tony Ayling
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Actinopterygii Order: Perciformes Suborder: Notothenioidei Family: Bovichtidae Gill, 1893
Genera
Bovichtus Cottoperca Halaphritis See text for species.

The thornfishes are a family, Bovichtidae, of fishes in the order Perciformes. The family is spelled Bovichthyidae in J. S. Nelson's Fishes of the World.

They are native to coastal waters off Australia, New Zealand, and South America, and to rivers and lakes of southeast Australia and Tasmania.

[edit] Genera

There are ten species in three genera.

• Genus Bovichtus Valenciennes in Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1832
  • Bovichtus angustifrons (Regan, 1913).
  • Bovichtus argentinus (MacDonagh, 1931).
  • Bovichtus chilensis (Regan, 1913).
  • Bovichtus diacanthus (Carmichael, 1819).
  • Bovichtus oculus Hardy, 1989.
  • Bovichtus psychrolutes (Günther, 1860).
  • Thornfish, Bovichtus variegatus Richardson, 1846.
  • Bovichtus veneris (Sauvage, 1879).
• Genus Cottoperca Steindachner, 1876
  • Cottoperca gobio (Günther, 1861).
• Genus Halaphritis Last, Balushkin and Hutchins, 2002
  • Halaphritis platycephala Last, Balushkin & Hutchins, 2002.

[edit] References

• "Bovichtidae". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. January 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
• Bovichtidae (TSN 171100). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Accessed on 25 March 2006.