Pentacerotidae

Pentacerotidae
Longfin boarfish, Zanclistius elevatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Acropomatiformes
Family:	Pentacerotidae Bleeker, 1859[1]
Genera
see text

Pentacerotidae or armourheads are a small family of ray-finned fishes in the order Acropomatiformes. They are native to the Indian Ocean, western and central Pacific, and southwestern Atlantic.^[2] They are generally found at rocky reefs below normal scuba diving depths, although several species occur in low densities at shallower depths.

Their name, from Greek pente meaning "five" and keras meaning "horn", refers to the prominent, sharp spines in their dorsal fins (though these do not number five in all species). The largest species in the family (Paristiopterus) may reach a length of 1 m (3.3 ft). Many species have distinct dark-and-light-striped bodies, while others are overall dusky-silvery.

Timeline

Genera

The following genera are classified within the family into two subfamilies:^[3][1][4]

• Subfamily Histiopterinae Bleeker, 1876
  • Evistias Jordan, 1907
  • Histiopterus Temminck & Schlegel, 1844
  • Parazanclistius Hardy, 1983
  • Paristiopterus Bleeker, 1876
  • Pentaceropsis Steindachner, 1883
  • Zanclistius Jordan, 1907
• Subfamily Pentacerotinae Bleeker, 1859
  • Pentaceros Cuvier, 1829

The fossil genus †Portentosoceros Nazarkin & Bannikov, 2021 from the Middle Miocene of Sakhalin, Russia, which closely resembles Pentaceros and was previously placed in it, lacks some of the characteristic features of this family and its taxonomic placement is uncertain outside of it belonging to the percomorphs. However, it is likely a close relative of the armorheads.^[5]

References

1. Richard van der Laan; William N. Eschmeyer & Ronald Fricke (2014). "Family-group names of Recent fishes". Zootaxa. 3882 (2): 001–230.
2. J. S. Nelson; T. C. Grande; M. V. H. Wilson (2016). Fishes of the World (5th ed.). Wiley. p. 443. ISBN 978-1-118-34233-6.
3. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Family Pentacerotidae". FishBase. December 2019 version.
4. Fricke, Ron; Eschmeyer, William N. & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Pentacerotidae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
5. Nazarkin, Mikhail V.; Bannikov, Alexandre F. (2021-03-04). "Portentosoceros, the new genus for the Neogene fish Pentaceros sakhaliniсus Gretchina (Perciformes, Percoidei) from the western Pacific and its taxonomic position". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 41 (2) e1928682. doi:10.1080/02724634.2021.1928682. ISSN 0272-4634.

External links

• Smith, J.L.B. 1964. Fishes of the family Pentacerotidae. Ichthyological Bulletin; No. 29. Department of Ichthyology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.