Dentex

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Dentex
Temporal range: Middle Miocene to present
Dentex dentex
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Acanthuriformes
Family: Sparidae
Genus: Dentex
G. Cuvier, 1814
Type species
Sparus dentex
Synonyms[1]

Dentex is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Sparidae, which includes the seabreams and porgies. The fishes in this genus are found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the eastern Indian and Western Pacific Oceans.

Dentex was first proposed as a genus by the French zoologist Georges Cuvier in 1814, Sparus dentex was the type species by absolute tautonymy.[1] S. dentex had been described in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th Edition of his Systema Naturae from the Mediterranean Sea.[2] The five Indo-Pacific species form a species complex called the Dentex hypselosomus species complex but have not been separated into their own genus.[3] This genus is placed in the family Sparidae within the order Spariformes by the 5th edition of Fishes of the World.[4] Some authorities classify this genus in the subfamily Denticinae,[5] but the 5th edition of Fishes of the World does not recognise subfamilies within the Sparidae.[4]

Etymology

Dentex means "with large teeth, and is tautonymous with Linnaeus's Sparus dentex, and is a reference to the large teeth in both jaws.[6]

Species

There are currently 14 recognized species in this genus:[7]

The Eocene fossil species Dentex laekeniensis van Beneden, 1872 is generally placed in its own genus, Ctenodentex.[9][10] Fossil specimens of modern Dentex are known from the Middle Miocene of the former Paratethys region, including in Hungary and Ukraine.[11]

Characteristics

Distribution

References

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