Scatophagidae

Scats
(Scatophagus argus)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Scatophagidae
Genera
Scatophagus Selenotoca See text for species.

The scats are a small family, Scatophagidae, of fishes in the order Perciformes.

They are small fish native to the Indian and western Pacific Oceans that have been popular in the aquarium trade in the last 30 years. Although juvenile scats may live in a freshwater environment, most adult scats prefer a brackish water environment. However, the African scat, Scatophagus tetracanthus, can and does live in fresh water in the wild and is even known to reproduce in fresh water. The largest species reaches 38 cm in length and some have been known to live more than 20 years in captivity given the proper water conditions. They are scavengers, feeding on algae and feces, hence their name, from Greek skatos meaning "feces" and phagein meaning "eat".

Species

The four species in two genera are:

• Genus Scatophagus Cuvier in Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1831
  • S. argus – common scat, green scat, ruby scat
  • S. tetracanthus – African scat (Lacépède, 1802).
• Genus Selenotoca Myers, 1936
  • S. multifasciata – silver scat (Richardson, 1846).
  • S. papuensis – moon scat Fraser-Brunner, 1938.

Scatophagus frontalis fossil

References

• Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2006). "Scatophagidae" in FishBase. January 2006 version.
• "Scatophagidae". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 27 March 2006.