Genus Philypnodon


Summary:

An endemic Australian genus with at least three species, two known from southern estuaries and freshwater environments.
Body slender, tapering posteriorly; head large, depressed, flattened on top; cheeks broad becoming bulbose in large males; interorbital broad, distance between orbits greater than eye diameter; mouth slightly oblique, small in females and young males, reaching below front to middle of eyes, and reaching to or beyond end of eyes in large males; 1st gill slit open; cheek and opercula without scales; body covered with ctenoid scales, cycloid on belly.

Key to southern Australian species of Philypnodon

Gill openings restricted, extending forward to below posterior margin of preopercles; sides of belly without vertical bands; pectoral fins each with 15–16 rays; tongue tip rounded to truncate; gill rakers on first arch 11–12; body often mottled ……………………………………………………………………..……..........…Philypnodon macrostomus

Gill openings wide, reaching forward to below eyes; sides of belly with 4–5 thin dark vertical bands; pectoral fins each usually with 18–19 rays; tongue tip bilobed; gill rakers on first arch 14–20; body normally uniformly coloured ……...................................…………………………………………….………..........……Philypnodon grandiceps

Author: Bray, D.J. 2021

Cite this page as:
Bray, D.J. 2021, Philypnodon in Fishes of Australia, accessed 29 Mar 2024, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/Home/genus/1150

References


Allen, G.R., Midgley, S.H. & Allen, M. 2002. Field Guide to the Freshwater Fishes of Australia. Perth : Western Australian Museum 394 pp.

Bleeker, P. 1874. Esquisse d'un système naturel des gobioïdes. Archives Néerlandaises des Sciences Naturelles 9: 289-331

Hammer, M.P., Adams, M., Thacker, C.E., Johnson, J.B. & Unmack, P.J. 2019. Comparison of genetic structure in co-occurring freshwater eleotrids (Actinopterygii: Philypnodon) reveals cryptic species, likely translocation and regional conservation hotspots. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 139: 16 pp, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2019.106556.

Hoese, D.F. 2008. Family Eleotridae. pp. 746-748 in Gomon. M.F., Bray, D.J. & Kuiter, R.H (eds). Fishes of Australia's Southern Coast. Sydney : Reed New Holland 928 pp.

Hoese, D.F. & Reader, S. 2006. Description of a new species of dwarf Philypnodon (Teleostei: Gobioidei: Eleotridae) from south-eastern Australia. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 63(1): 16-19

Thacker, C.E., Unmack, P.J., Matsui, L., Duong P. & Huang, E. 2008. Phylogeography of Philypnodon species (Teleostei: Eleotridae) across south-eastern Australia: testing patterns of connectivity across drainage divides and among coastal rivers. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society of London 95: 175–192