Tylosurus acus
Species of fish
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tylosurus acus (keel-jawed needlefish) is a game fish of the family Belonidae.
| Tylosurus acus | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Beloniformes |
| Family: | Belonidae |
| Genus: | Tylosurus |
| Species: | T. acus |
| Binomial name | |
| Tylosurus acus (Lacépède, 1803) | |
| Subspecies | |
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Distribution
The keel-jawed needlefish is widespread in the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific oceans.[2]
Taxonomy
There are four recognised subspecies of Tylosurus acus:[1]
- T. a. acus (Lacepède, 1803) (Agujon needlefish) - in the western Atlantic from Massachusetts to Brazil and in the eastern Atlantic off Morocco and in the western Mediterranean
- T. a. imperialis (Rafinesque, 1810) in the Mediterranean Sea and Cape Verde Islands
- T. a. rafale Collette and Parin 1970 (Atlantic agujon needlefish) Gulf of Guinea
- T. a melanotus (Bleeker, 1850) (Keel-jawed needlefish) in the Indo-West Pacific and oceanic islands in the eastern tropical Pacific Revillagigedo Islands, Clipperton Island, and Cocos Island.
Tylosurus pacificus was once considered a subspecies of T. acus but is now considered a distinct species.[3] Although acus was suppressed by ICZN Opinion 900, continued usage of the name led to Tylosurus acus being reinstated as a valid name.[4][5] Some authorities raise the four subspecies to species level.[6]
