Dentex Explained

Dentex is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Sparidae, which includes the seabreams and porgies. The fishes in this genus are found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the eastern Indian and Western Pacific Oceans.

Taxonomy

Dentex was first proposed as a genus by the French zoologist Georges Cuvier in 1814, Sparus dentex was the type species by absolute tautonymy. S. dentex had been described in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th Edition of his Systema Naturae from the Mediterranean Sea. The five Indo-Pacific species form a species complex called the Dentex hypselosomus species complex but have not been separated into their own genus. This genus is placed in the family Sparidae within the order Spariformes by the 5th edition of Fishes of the World.[1] Some authorities classify this genus in the subfamily Denticinae,[2] but the 5th edition of Fishes of the World does not recognise subfamilies within the Sparidae.[1]

Etymology

Dentex means "with large teeth, and is tautonymous with Linnaeus's Sparus dentex, and is a reference to the large teeth in both jaws.[3]

Species

There are currently 14 recognized species in this genus:

The Eocene fossil species Dentex laekeniensis van Beneden, 1872 is generally placed in its own genus, Ctenodentex.[5] [6]

Characteritstics

Dentex seabreams are characterised within the Sparidae by the possession of a series of sharp conical teeth in each jaw, 4 in the upper jaw and 6 in the lower jaw, These teeth are enlarged and canine-like and they have no molar-like teeth. The scales between the eyes extend to near a level with the front part of the orbit. The flange on the preoperculum is completely covered in scales.[7] The largest species in the genus is the pink dentex (D. gibbosus) with a maximum published fork length of while the smallest is D. fourmanoiri which has a maximum published standard length of .

Distribution

Dentex sea breams are found in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean, from Europe to Namibia, and in the Eastern Indian and Western Pacific Ocean from Japan south to Australia.

Notes and References

  1. Book: Nelson, J.S. . Joseph S. Nelson . Grande, T.C. . Wilson, M.V.H. . 2016 . Fishes of the World . 5th . . Hoboken, NJ . 502–506 . 978-1-118-34233-6 . 2015037522 . 951899884 . 25909650M . 10.1002/9781119174844.
  2. Parenti, P. . 2019 . An annotated checklist of the fishes of the family Sparidae . FishTaxa . 4 . 2 . 47–98 .
  3. Web site: Order SPARIFORMES: Families LETHRINIDAE, NEMIPTERIDAE and SPARIDAE . The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database . 15 January 2024 . 22 December 2023 . Christopher Scharpf.
  4. Iwatsuki, Y. . Newman, S.J. . Russell, B.C. . & . 2015 . Dentex carpenteri, a new species of deepwater seabream from Western Australia (Pisces: Sparidae) . Zootaxa . 3957 . 1 . 109–119 . 10.11646/zootaxa.3957.1.9. 26249058 .
  5. Schwarzhans . Werner . Beckett . Hermione T. . Schein . Jason D. . Friedman . Matt . 2018 . Rahman . Imran . Computed tomography scanning as a tool for linking the skeletal and otolith‐based fossil records of teleost fishes . Palaeontology . en . 61 . 4 . 511–541 . 10.1111/pala.12349 . 0031-0239. 2027.42/144669 . free .
  6. Web site: Ctenodentex lakeniensis (P.J. Van Beneden, 1872) — RBINS Virtual Collections . 2024-06-27 . virtualcollections.naturalsciences.be . en.
  7. Iwatsuki, Y. . M. Akazaki . N. Taniguchi . and . 2007 . Review of the species of the genus Dentex (Perciformes:Sparidae) in the Western Pacific defined as the D. hypselosomus complex with the description of a new species, Dentex abei and a redescription of Evynnis tumifrons . Bulletin of the National Museum of Nature and Science Series A (Zoology) . Supplement 1 . 29–49 .

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