Pontinus

Pontinus; Temporal range: Early Oligocene to Present
	Spinythroat scorpionfish (P. nematophthalmus)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Scorpaeniformes
Family:	Scorpaenidae
Tribe:	Scorpaenini
Genus:	Pontinus; Poey, 1860
Type species
	Pontinus castor; Poey, 1860
Synonyms
	Crossoscorpaena Fowler, 1938; Merinthe Snyder, 1904; Nemapontinus Fowler, 1938; Sebastoplus Gill, 1863;

Pontinus is a genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. The scorpionfishes in this genus are distributed in the tropical and warm temperate parts Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Taxonomy

Pontinus was first described as a genus in 1860 by the Cuban zoologist Felipe Poey y Aloy when he was describing the longsnout scorpionfish (P. castor) which he had collected at Havana, as this species was the only species Poey definitely placed within the new genus it is its type species by monotypy.^[2]^[3] The genus name from is derived from pontis, meaning "bridge", an allusion to the suborbital stay, or ridge, which is found in all the species in the subfamily Scorpaeninae.^[4]

Species

There are currently 19 recognized species in this genus:^[5]

Pontinus accraensis Norman, 1935 (Ghanean rockfish)
Pontinus castor Poey, 1860 (Longsnout scorpionfish)
Pontinus clemensi Fitch, 1955 (Mottled scorpionfish)
Pontinus corallinus A. Miranda-Ribeiro, 1903
Pontinus furcirhinus Garman, 1899
Pontinus helena Eschmeyer, 1965
Pontinus kuhlii (S. Bowdich, 1825) (Offshore rockfish)
Pontinus leda Eschmeyer, 1969 (Speckled deepwater scorpionfish)
Pontinus longispinis Goode & T. H. Bean, 1896 (Longspine scorpionfish)
Pontinus macrocephalus (Sauvage, 1882) (Large-headed scorpionfish)
Pontinus nematophthalmus (Günther, 1860) (Spinythroat scorpionfish)
Pontinus nigerimum Eschmeyer, 1983 (Blacklash scorpionfish)
Pontinus nigropunctatus (Günther, 1868) (St. Helena deepwater scorpionfish)
Pontinus rathbuni Goode & T. H. Bean, 1896 (Highfin scorpionfish)
Pontinus rhodochrous (Günther, 1872)
Pontinus sierra (C. H. Gilbert, 1890) (Speckled scorpionfish)
Pontinus strigatus Heller & Snodgrass, 1903 (Stalkeye scorpionfish)
Pontinus tentacularis (Fowler, 1938)
Pontinus vaughani Barnhart & C. L. Hubbs, 1946 (Spotback scorpionfish)

Characteristics

Pontinus scorpionfishes have very bony heads^[6] The head has 2 preorbital spines over the maxillary, 3-4 spines on the suborbital ridge although the first spine on the preorbital bone is frequently absent. There is a supplemental preopercular spine and the uppermost preopercular spine is the longest with the second preopercular spine being often absent, then the third and fourth are present but the 5th may be present or absent. They have both vomerine teeth and paltine teeth. The dorsal fin contains 12 spines and 9-10 sot rays while the anal-fin has 3 spines and 5 soft rays with the rearmost ray deeply split. There are 15-20 unbranched fin rays in the pectoral fin. They have a swimbladder The scales on the body are ctenoid and the cheek, postorbital area and top of head are all scaled. They do not have an occipital pit.^[7] These scorpionfishes vary in size from a total length of 14 cm (5.5 in) in the spinythroat scorpionfish (P. nematophthalmus) to 54.9 cm (21.6 in) in the mottled spinefish (P. clemensi).^[5]

Distribution and habitat

Pontinus scorpionfishes are found in tropical and temperate waters of the Atlantic Indian and Pacific Oceans.^[6] These are demersal fishes.^[5]

References

^ Sepkoski, Jack (2002). "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera". Bulletins of American Paleontology. 364: 560. Retrieved 2007-12-25.
^ ^a ^b ^c Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Scorpaenidae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
^ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Pontinus". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
^ Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara, eds. (2 October 2021). "Order Perciformes (Part 9): Suborder Scorpaenoidei: Family Scorpaenidae". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Pontinus". FishBase. August 2021 version.
^ ^a ^b "Genus: Pontinus, Scorpionfishes". Shorefishes of the Eastern Pacific online information system. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
^ Bray, D.J. (2019). "Pontinus". Fishes of Australia. Museums Victoria. Retrieved 22 January 2022.

[1] Sepkoski, Jack (2002). "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera". Bulletins of American Paleontology. 364: 560. Retrieved 2007-12-25.

[CofF-2] Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Scorpaenidae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 22 January 2022.

[CofF2-3] Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Pontinus". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 22 January 2022.

[ETYFish-4] Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara, eds. (2 October 2021). "Order Perciformes (Part 9): Suborder Scorpaenoidei: Family Scorpaenidae". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 18 January 2022.

[Fishbase-5] Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Pontinus". FishBase. August 2021 version.

[STRI-6] "Genus: Pontinus, Scorpionfishes". Shorefishes of the Eastern Pacific online information system. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Retrieved 22 January 2022.

[FofA-7] Bray, D.J. (2019). "Pontinus". Fishes of Australia. Museums Victoria. Retrieved 22 January 2022.

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