Astroscopus
Genus of ray-finned fishes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Astroscopus (from Ancient Greek ἀστήρ (astḗr), meaning "star", and σκοπέω (skopéō), meaning "to look"), the electric stargazers, is a genus of stargazers, a type of percomorph fish from the family Uranoscopidae, part of the order Labriformes.[3] The species in this genus are anatomically distinct uranoscopids, being characterized by internal nares and being the only group of marine bony fish having organs which produce electricity which are derived from the extraocular muscles. They are found on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the Americas.[4]
| Astroscopus Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| |
| Northern stargazer (A. guttatus) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Labriformes |
| Family: | Uranoscopidae |
| Genus: | Astroscopus Brevoort, 1860[1] |
| Type species | |
| Uranoscopus anoplos[2] Valenciennes, 1832 | |
| Synonyms | |
Species
There are four extant and one extinct species included in Astroscopus:[5]
- Astroscopus guttatus Abbott, 1860 - Northern stargazer
- Astroscopus sexspinosus (Steindachner, 1876) - Brazilian Stargazer
- Astroscopus y-graecum, (Cuvier, 1829) - Southern stargazer
- Astroscopus zephyreus Gilbert & Starks in Gilbert, 1897
- †Astroscopus countermani Carnevale, Godfrey & Pietsch, 2011 Extinct species described from the Tortonian deposits of Calvert Cliffs, Maryland.[4]
