Opsanus
Genus of fishes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Opsanus is a genus of toadfishes found in the western Atlantic Ocean. It currently has six recognised species, with the latest one described in 2005.
| Opsanus Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| |
| Opsanus beta | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Batrachoidiformes |
| Family: | Batrachoididae |
| Subfamily: | Batrachoidinae |
| Genus: | Opsanus Rafinesque, 1818 |
| Type species | |
| Opsanus cerapalus Rafinesque 1818[1] | |
Species
The recognized species in this genus are:[2]
- Opsanus beta (Goode & T. H. Bean, 1880) (Gulf toadfish)
- Opsanus brasiliensis Rotundo, Spinelli & Zavala-Camin, 2005 (considered by some sources to be a junior synonym of O. tau)[3]
- Opsanus dichrostomus Collette, 2001 (bicolor toadfish)
- Opsanus pardus (Goode & T. H. Bean, 1880) (leopard toadfish)
- Opsanus phobetron Walters & C. R. Robins, 1961 (scarecrow toadfish)
- Opsanus tau (Linnaeus, 1766) (oyster toadfish)
The earliest fossil remains of Opsanus are from the early-to-mid Miocene-aged Choptank Formation of Maryland, US.[4]
