Oblong Slipmouth, Photolateralis stercorarius (Evermann & Seale 1907)


Other Names: Slender Ponyfish, Slipmouth

An Oblong Slipmouth, Photolateralis stercorarius, USNM 431576, from south of Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, Philippines, April 2014. Source: Jeffrey T. Williams / Division of Fishes, United States National Museum, Smithsonian Institution. License: CC by Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

Summary:
An elongate ponyfish with irregular green and dark marbling on the back, a silvery-white lower side, a black blotch on the snout, a yellow margin and a yellow stripe on the spinous dorsal fin and anal fin. Males have a bluish stripe along the sides just below the midline.

Cite this page as:
Bray, D.J. 2022, Photolateralis stercorarius in Fishes of Australia, accessed 19 Apr 2024, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/5107

Oblong Slipmouth, Photolateralis stercorarius (Evermann & Seale 1907)

More Info


Distribution

Torres Strait, Queensland. Elsewhere the species occurs in the tropical east-Indo-west Pacific. Forms schools over soft bottom habitats, including inner reef flats, silty coastal waters and mangroves.

Features

Dorsal fin VIII, 16; Anal fin III, 14; Pectoral fin 16-18; Lateral-line scales 58-61; Gill rakers 5-6 + 11-14 = 16-20.
Body elongate, moderately compressed, dorsal and ventral profiles smoothly convex, slender but deeper than head length; depth 2.8–3.6 in SL. Mouth protruding downwards, profile of lower jaw almost straight; teeth small, slender, in a single row on jaws. Scales deciduous, cheek, breast, and belly completely scaled. Dorsal and anal-fin spines not elongated.

Colour

Body brownish dorsally, silvery-white ventrally; black blotch on snout; dark irregular oblique lines indistinctly on dorsolateral body surface; dorsal and anal fins with yellow stripes.

Similar Species

In Australia, this species has been known as Equulites stercorarius and Leiognathus stercorarius.

Etymology

The specific name is from the Latin stercorarius (= of, or pertaining to dung), in reference to "the fly-specks on the side."

Species Citation

Leiognathus stercorarius Evermann & Seale 1907, Bulletin of the Bureau of Fisheries (U.S.) for 1906 26: 67, fig. 6. Type locality: Bulan, Sorsogon, Philippines.

Author

Bray, D.J. 2022

Resources

Atlas of Living Australia

Oblong Slipmouth, Photolateralis stercorarius (Evermann & Seale 1907)

References


Evermann, B.W. & Seale, A. 1907. Fishes of the Philippine Islands. Bulletin of the Bureau of Fisheries (U.S.) for 1906 26: 49-110 figs 1-22 See ref at BHL

Kimura, S., Motomura, H. & Iwatsuki, Y. 2008. Equulites Fowler 1904, a senior synonym of Photoplagios Sparks, Dunlap, and Smith 2005 (Perciformes: Leiognathidae). Ichthyological Research 55: 204-205 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-008-0041-6 (as Equulites stercorarius)

Randall, J.E. 2005. Reef and shore fishes of the South Pacific. New Caledonia to Tahiti and the Pitcairn Islands. Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press 707 pp. (as Leiognathus stercorarius)

Sparks, J.S. & Chakrabarty, P. 2015. Description of a new genus of ponyfishes (Teleostei: Leiognathidae), with a review of the current generic-level composition of the family. Zootaxa 3947(2): 181–190 http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3947.2.2

Sparks, J.S., Dunlap, P.V. & Smith, W.L. 2005. Evolution and diversification of a sexually dimorphic luminescent system in ponyfishes (Teleostei: Leiognathidae), including diagnoses of two new genera. Cladistics 21: 305-327 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-0031.2005.00067.x (as Photoplagios stercorarius)

Suzuki, T. & Kimura, S. 2017. Taxonomic revision of the Equulites elongatus (Günther 1874) species group (Perciformes: Leiognathidae) with the description of a new species. Ichthyological Research 64(3): 339-352, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-017-0572-9

Woodland, D.J., Premcharoen, S. & Cabanban, A.S. 2001. Leiognathidae. pp. 2792-2823 in Carpenter, K.E. & Niem, V.H. (eds). The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fisheries Purposes. Rome : FAO Vol. 5 2791-3379 pp. (as Equulites stercorarius)

Quick Facts


CAAB Code:37341026

Biology:Bioluminescent

Depth:0-20 m

Habitat:Coastal waters, estuaries

Max Size:10 cm SL

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Species Maps

CAAB distribution map