Ostracion
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Ostracion | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Ostracion cubicum | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Tetraodontiformes |
| Family: | Ostraciidae |
| Genus: | Ostracion Linnaeus, 1758 |
| Type species | |
| Ostracion cubicus Linnaeus, 1758 | |
| Synonyms[2] | |
| |
Ostracion is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Ostraciidae, the boxfishes. These fishes are found in the Indo-Pacific region as far east as the eastern Pacific coasts of the Americas.
Etymology
Ostracion was first proposed as a genus by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae. Ostracion cubicus was subsequently designated as the type species of this genus. However, the original designation is unclear, Pieter Bleeker designate O. teragonus as the type in 1865 while David Starr Jordan and Charles Henry Gilbert designated it as O. cubiceps in 1883.[2] This genus is the type genus of the family Ostraciidae which the 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies within the family Ostraciidae in the suborder Ostracioidea within the order Tetraodontiformes.[3]
Ostracion comes from ὀστρᾰ́κιον (ostrắkion), dimimutive of ὄστρακον (óstrakon), meaning "shell", and is an allusion to the shape of the body of the type species, O. cubicum.[4]
Distribution and habitat
Ostracion boxfishes are found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans from the Red Sea and eastern coast of Africa[5] as far as the Eastern Pacific between Mexico and Ecuador.[6] One species, the yellow boxfish, has reached the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal.[7] These fishes are solitary species of lagoons and reefs, typically in shallow water.[8]
,_islas_Ad_Dimaniyat,_Omán,_2024-08-14,_DD_30_(cropped).jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
,_Anilao,_Filipinas,_2023-08-25,_DD_183.jpg)
.jpg)