Stargazer
The stargazers are a family Uranoscopidae of perciform fish that have eyes on top of their heads (hence the name). The family includes about 50 species in 8 genera, all marine and found worldwide in shallow waters.
In addition to the top-mounted eyes, stargazers also have a large upward-facing mouth in a large head. Their usual habit is to bury themselves in sand, and leap upwards to ambush prey (benthic fish and invertebrates) that pass overhead. Some species have a worm-shaped lure growing out of the floor of the mouth, which they can wiggle to attract prey's attention. Both the dorsal and anal fins are relatively long; some lack dorsal spines. Lengths range from 18 cm up to 90 cm, for the giant stargazer Kathetostoma giganteum.
Stargazers are venomous; they have two large poison spines situated behind the opercle and above the pectoral fins. Some species can also cause electric shocks. They have an electric organ consisting of modified eye muscles. They are one of the few[1] marine bony fishes that are electrogenic. They are also unique among electric fish in not possessing specialized electroreceptors.[2]
Genera and species
- Genus Astroscopus
- Genus Genyagnus
- Genus Gnathagnus
- Armoured blenny, Gnathagnus armatus (Kaup, 1858)
- Gnathagnus cribratus Kishimoto, 1989
- Freckled stargazer, Gnathagnus egregius (Jordan & Thompson, 1905)
- Bulldog stargazer, Gnathagnus innotabilis Waite, 1904
- Genus Ichthyscopus
- Genus Kathetostoma
- Lancer stargazer, Kathetostoma albigutta (Bean, 1892)
- Smooth stargazer, Kathetostoma averruncus Jordan & Bollman, 1890
- Banded stargazer, Kathetostoma binigrasella Gomon & Roberts, 2011
- Kathetostoma canaster Gomon & Last, 1987
- Spiny stargazer, Kathetostoma cubana Barbour, 1941
- Kathetostoma fluviatilis Hutton, 1872
- Giant stargazer, Kathetostoma giganteum Haast, 1873
- Common stargazer, Kathetostoma laeve (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
- Deepwater stargazer, Kathetostoma nigrofasciatum Waite & McCulloch, 1915
- Genus Pleuroscopus
- Genus Selenoscopus
- Genus Uranoscopus
- Genus Xenocephalus
References
- Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2006). "Uranoscopidae" in FishBase. May 2006 version.
- Gomon, M.F. & Roberts, C.D. (2011). "A second New Zealand species of the stargazer genus Kathetostoma (Trachinoidei: Uranoscopidae)." Zootaxa 2776: 1-12.
- ^ The other being the striped catfish. Baron, V. (2009-12-01). "Electric discharges of two species of stargazers from the South China Sea (Uranoscopidae, Perciformes)". Journal of Ichthyology 49 (11): 1065–1072. doi:10.1134/S0032945209110058.
- ^ Alves-Gomes, J. A. (2001). "The evolution of electroreception and bioelectrogenesis in teleost fish: a phylogenetic perspective". Journal of Fish Biology 58 (6): 1489–1511. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8649.2001.tb02307.x.
- ^ Carnevale, Godfrey & Pietsch, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 31(6):1200-1209. 2011 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/039.031.0608 "Stargazer (Teleostei, Uranoscopidae) Cranial Remains from the Miocene Calvert Cliffs, Maryland, U.S.A. (St. Marys Formation, Chesapeake Group)" [1]
External links