Aulichthys japonicus

Aulichthys japonicus is a small fish from the partial order of the stickleback -like, which is found on the coasts of Japan and the east coast of Korea.

Features

He has an elongated, very slender and scaleless body, which can be 13 to 15 inches long. Dorsal and anal fins are short, sit behind the middle of the body and face each other symmetrically. Before the actual dorsal fin there are up to 25 tiny Dorsal spines that are not connected by fins membranes. Males remain slightly smaller than females, have in the breeding season a metallic green and blue muzzle and have teeth while the females are toothless. Females are brown with small white spots.

Way of life

Aulichthys japonicus lives in large schools over shallow seagrass beds between Sargassum seaweeds and overgrown rock reefs. During the mating season the males are territorial, occupying fixed areas and are visited for oviposition by females smaller groups. Aulichthys japonicus spawns in sea squirts.

System

Aulichthys japonicus is often associated with Aulorhynchus flavidus family Aulorhynchidae in the databases Fishbase and Catalog of Fishes, he is placed in the Hypoptychidae Family with Hypoptychus dybowskii.

Both families are probably not monophyletic with the inclusion of Aulichthys japonicus. Within the stickleback -like ( Gasterosteales ) Aulichthys japonicus after Hypoptychus dybowskii the basalste genus. The systematic position illustrated by the following cladogram:

Sticklebacks ( Gasterosteidae )

Aulorhynchus flavidus

Aulichthys japonicus

Hypoptychus dybowskii