Acanthostracion
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Acanthostracion | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Acanthostracion polygonius | |
 | |
| Acanthostracion quadricornis (Juvenile) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Tetraodontiformes |
| Superfamily: | Ostracioidea |
| Family: | Ostraciidae |
| Genus: | Acanthostracion Bleeker, 1865 |
| Type species | |
| Ostracion quadricornis | |
Acanthostracion is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Ostraciidae, the boxfishes. These fishes are found in the Atlantic Ocean.
Acanthostracion was first proposed as a subgenus of Ostracion in 1865 by the Dutch physician, herpetologist and ichthyologist Pieter Bleeker. Bleeker did not designate a type species when he first used the name in his paper Notice sur les ostracions, confondus sous le nom d'Ostracion quadricornis L. et description des Ostracion notacanthus et guineensis but designated Ostracion quadricornis as the type species later in 1865 when he published his Atlas ichthyologique des Indes Orientalis Neerlandais.[1] The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies this genus within the family Ostraciidae in the suborder Ostracioidea within the order Tetraodontiformes.[2]
Etymology
Species
There are currently 4 recognized species in this genus:[4]
- Acanthostracion guineense (Bleeker, 1865) (West African cowfish)
- Acanthostracion notacanthus (Bleeker, 1863) (Island cowfish)
- Acanthostracion polygonius Poey, 1876 (Honeycomb cowfish)
- Acanthostracion quadricornis (Linnaeus, 1758) (Scrawled cowfish)