Microcanthinae

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Microcanthinae
The Mado, Atypichthys latus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Suborder: Percoidei
Superfamily: Percoidea
Family: Kyphosidae
Subfamily: Microcanthinae
Johnson, 1984
Genera

Atypichthys
Microcanthus
Neatypus
Tilodon
See text for species.

The Microcanthinae, commonly known as footballers, mados, stripeys and moonlighters, are a subfamily of the sea chubs, a family of marine fish in the order Perciformes. The Microcanthinae are distributed across a fairly small range in the south west Indian Ocean and the eastern Pacific, with most species concentrated around Australia and New Zealand. They inhabit a variety of continental shelf environments, from inshore rocky coastlines to deep offshore reefs. They commonly exhibit a striped body colouring, and individual species may look quite similar. The subfamily was defined by Johnson in 1984 and contains four genera. All of the species are generally too small to be useful as a food fish, but are often used in marine aquaria.

[edit] Classification

The following is a comprehensive list of known extant genera and species based on Fishbase

  • Subfamily MICROCANTHINAE
    • Genus Atypichthys
    • Genus Microcanthus
      • Stripey, Microcanthus strigatus (Cuvier, 1831)
    • Genus Neatypus
      • Western footballer, Neatypus obliquus Waite, 1905
    • Genus Tilodon
      • Moonlighter, Tilodon sexfasciatum (Richardson, 1842)

[edit] References