Scarus

Scarus
Temporal range: Early Oligocene to Present[1]
Scarus ferrugineus, terminal phase
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Scaridae
Genus: Scarus
Forsskål, 1775
Species

about 52, see text

Scarus is a genus of parrotfish. With at least 52 currently recognised extant species,[2] it is by far the largest genus in this group. The vast majority are found at reefs in the Indo-Pacific, but a small number of species are found in the warmer parts of the eastern Pacific, and the western and eastern Atlantic. Most are very colourful, and have strikingly different initial (males and females) and terminal (males only) phases. Most species have a maximum length between 30 and 50 cm (12 and 20 in), but the rainbow parrotfish (Scarus guacamaia) reaches 1.2 m (3.9 ft).

Species

In political thought

In Ripa's Renaissance iconography, the scarus fish symbolised civil "Union," i.e. the joining together of individuals into a collective body. Plutarch had written that scarus fish "swim together in shoals and ingeniously and heroically free each other when caught in a net." The scarus thus "denoted reciprocal assistance in the fight for survival."[3]

Gallery

Notes

  1. Sepkoski, J. (2002). "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera". Bulletins of American Paleontology 364: 560. Retrieved 25 December 2007.
  2. Froese, R. and D. Pauly, Eds. Scarus. FishBase. 2013.
  3. Hont, I. Jealousy of Trade: International Competition and the Nation-State in Historical Perspective. Harvard UP: 2005, pp. 21-22.
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