Rhabdosargus

Rhabdosargus was first proposed as a monospecific genus in 1933 by the American zoologist Henry Weed Fowler with Sparus auriventris as its only species and designated as its type species.^[1] Sargus auriventris had been first formally described in 1855 by Wilhelm Peters from Mozambique. S. auriventris is considered to be a junior synonym of Sparus sarba^[2] which had been described in 1789 by Johann Friedrich Gmelin from notes written by Peter Forsskål.^[3] The genus Rhabdosargus 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 Sparinae,^[5] but the 5th edition of Fishes of the World does not recognise subfamilies within the Sparidae.^[4]

Rhabdosargus is a combination of rhabdos, meaning "stick" or "rod", an allusion to the yellow abdominal band of Sargus auriventris, the type species. The second part is Sargos, a name used for Sparid fish in ancient Greek at least as long ago as Aristotle but in this case is a reference to Sargus as a synonym of Diplodus.^[6]

Rhabdosargus contains the following 6 valid species:^[7]

• Rhabdosargus globiceps Valenciennes, 1830 (White stumpnose)
• Rhabdosargus haffara Fabricius, 1775 (Haffara seabream)
• Rhabdosargus holubi Steindachner, 1881 (Cape stumpnose)
• Rhabdosargus niger F. Tanaka & Iwatsuki, 2013 (Blackish stumpnose) ^[8]
• Rhabdosargus sarba Gmelin (ex Forsskål), 1789 (Goldlined seabream)
• Rhabdosargus thorpei M. M. Smith, 1979 (Bigeye stumpnose)

Rhabdosargus seabreams are characterised by having more than 50 scales in the lateral line. The jaws have between 4 and six similarly sized incisor-like teeth as the front with no more than 3 rows of molars to the rear of them which become increasing trapezoid towards the rear of the jaws. The area between the eyes, the soft rayed part s of both the dorsal and anal fins are naked and the flange of the preoperculum are all scaleless, although the preopercular flange may have a few scales on it.^[9] The goldined seabream (R. sarba) is the largest species in the genus with a maximum published total length of 80 cm (31 in) while with a maximum published standard length of 28.9 cm (11.4 in) the blackish stumpnose (R. niger) is the smallest.^[7]

Rhabdosargus seabreams are found in the southeastern Atlantic Ocean and in the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean.^[7] They are found in coastal waters, often over sand substrates with the juveniles often using estuaries as nursery areas.^[9]