Bathymaster Explained

Bathymaster is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Bathymasteridae, the ronquils. These fishes are found in the northern Pacific Ocean.

Taxonomy

Bathymaster was first proposed as a monotypic genus in 1873 by the American paleontologist and biologist Edward Drinker Cope when he described its type species Bathymaster signatus from Sitka, Alaska. The genus is classified in the family Bathymasteridae which is in the Scorpaeniform suborder Zoarcoidei.^[1] The genus name, Bathymaster, can be translated from the Greek to mean "deep searcher".^[2]

Species

There are currently four recognized species in this genus:

• Bathymaster caeruleofasciatus C. H. Gilbert & Burke, 1912 (Alaskan ronquil)
• Bathymaster derjugini Lindberg, 1930 (Blackspot ronquil)
• Bathymaster leurolepis McPhail, 1965 (Smallmouth ronquil)
• Bathymaster signatus Cope, 1873 (Searcher)

Characteristics

Bathymaster ronquils are distinguished from other genera of ronquils by having naked, i.e. scaleless, cheeks and opercula. there are 5 or 6 pores on the mandibles and the pores on the preoperculum are grouped in an 8:1:1 pattern, There are between 83 and 102 pored scales in the lateral line and these are not greater in size than the nearby scales. The dorsal fin is not continuous and the first dorsal fin has 3 pliable spines.^[3] The largest species is B. signatus with a maximum published total length of while the smallest is B. derjugini which has a maximum published total length of .

Distribution and habitat

Bathymaster ronquils are found in the northern North Pacific from Washington north and west to Hokkaido.^[4] The searcher has been found as deep as but these fishes are typically found in shallow coastal waters at depths no greater than .^[3] They are cold water benthic fishes.^[4]

Notes and References

1. Book: Fishes of the World . 5th . . T. C. Grande . M. V. H. Wilson . 2016 . 478–482 . Wiley . 978-1-118-34233-6 . 2022-07-27 . 2019-04-08 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190408194051/https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ . dead .
2. Web site: Order Perciformes (Part 11): Suborder Cottoidea: Infraorder Zoarcales: Families: Anarhichadidae, Neozoarcidae, Eulophias, Stichaeidae, Lumpenidae, Ophistocentridae, Pholidae, Ptilichthyidae, Zaproridae, Cryptacanthodidae, Cebidichthyidae, Scytalinidae and Bathymasteridae . The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database . Christopher Scharpf . Kenneth J. Lazara . amp . 4 July 2021 . 27 July 2022 . Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara.
3. Stevenson, Duane . Ann C. Matarese . 2005 . The ronquils: a review of the North Pacific fish family Bathymasteridae (Actinopterygii: Perciformes: Zoarcoidei) . Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington . 118 . 367–406 . 10.2988/0006-324X(2005)118[367:TRAROT]2.0.CO;2.
4. Web site: Mecklenburg, C. W. . 2003 . Family Bathymasteridae Jordan & Gilbert 1883 — ronquils . California Academy of Sciences Annotated Checklists of Fishes No. 7 . California Academy of Sciences .