Cynoponticus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Cynoponticus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Cynoponticus savanna | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Anguilliformes |
| Family: | Muraenesocidae |
| Genus: | Cynoponticus O. G. Costa, 1845[1] |
| Type species | |
| Cynoponticus ferox Costa, 1846[1] | |
| Species | |
|
3 described species, see text | |
Cynoponticus is a genus of marine ray-fiined fishes belonging to the family Muraenesocidae, the pike congers. The fishes in this genus are found in the Eastern and Western Atlantic Oceans and the Eastern Pacific Ocean, with a single parapatric species in each region.
Cynoponticus was first proposed as a genus in 1845 by the Italian zoologist Oronzio Gabriele Costa, although the formal description of what was then its only species, C. ferox, was not published until 1846.[1] The pages of Costa's publication were sold separately, in sets which were not organised systematically or chronologically, hence the different publication dates.[2] The type locality of C. ferox was given as Ischia, an island in the Gulf of Naples.[3] This genus is classified within the family Muraenesocidae, part of the suborder Congroidei in the order Anguilliformes, the eels.[4]
Etymology
Cyanoponticus combins cynos, the latinised form of kynos, a Greek word for dog" with ponticus, meaning "of the sea", and so means "sea dog". This name is an allusion to the freocious appearance of C. ferox which Costa described as having a "large mouth armed … with feral teeth".[2]
Species
Cynoponticus has the following three species classified within it:[3][5]
- Cynoponticus coniceps (D. S. Jordan & C. H. Gilbert, 1882) (Red pike conger)
- Cynoponticus ferox O. G. Costa, 1846 (Guinean pike conger)
- Cynoponticus savanna (Bancroft, 1831) (Guayana pike conger)