Datnioides

Datnioides microlepis

The tiger grouper ( Datnioides ) are a genus of the group of the perch family ( Percomorphaceae ). Their habitat are the fresh and brackish waters of estuaries and coastal lakes from India to Borneo.

Features

The fish only have 24 vertebrae. The hartstrahlige part of the dorsal fin has 12 fin rays, the far back seated weichstrahlige 15 to 16, together with the equally far back seated anal fin and the round tail gives the impression of three tail fins. Vomer and palatine bones are toothless. There are five species, which are 30 to 45 inches long. They feed as predators of small fish.

System

Tiger grouper are assigned in most classifications a family, the Datnioididae. However, they form with the three- tail perch ( Lobotes ) and the genus Hapalogenys (Family Hapalogenyidae ) a common clade, so that an assignment to the Lobotidae family is proposed. In the latest revision of the teleost systematics order Lobotiformes was introduced for the families Datnioididae and Lobotidae; Hapalogenys has not been studied.

Species

• Datnioides campbelli Whitley, 1939
• Datnioides microlepis Bleeker, 1853
• Datnioides Polota (Hamilton, 1822)
• Datnioides pulcher ( Kottelat, 1998)
• Datnioides undecimradiatus ( Roberts & Kottelat, 1994)