Drepane (genus)

Dotted sickle fish ( Drepane punctata)

The sickle fish ( Drepane ) are a species-poor genus of marine fish. They stand alone in the monotypic family Drepaneidae and earlier to the spade fish ( Ephippidae ) were counted, but these are their sister group. From the spade fish they are distinguished by large, round ( cycloid ) scales and the larger, vorstülpbare down mouth. Sickle fish live in the Indo-Pacific Ocean and on the coasts of West Africa over sand and mud grounds and in the vicinity of river mouths.

Features

Sickle fish are about half a meter long. Your body is high and laterally flattened considerably. The muzzle is strong vorstülpbar ( protaktil ). The sickle-shaped pectoral fins are longer than the head. The number of vertebrae is 24 The dorsal fin is supported by 13 or 14 spines and 19 to 22 soft rays, the anal fin of three spines and 17 to 19 soft rays.

Species

• African sickle fish ( Drepane africana) Osório, 1892., 45 cm long, lives in the eastern Atlantic, from the Canary Islands and Mauritania to Angola, including Cape Verde.
• Dotted sickle fish ( Drepane punctata) Linnaeus, 1758, 50 cm long. lives in the Indo-Pacific region, from India to northern Australia, New Guinea, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan and Japan.
• Drepane longimana ( Bloch & Schneider, 1801). 50 cm long, lives in the Red Sea and the Indo-Pacific, from East Africa to northern Australia, New Guinea, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan and Japan.

Drepane punctata and Drepane longimana differ only by their color and may need to be united to one species.