Southern sandfish

Crapatalus novaezelandiae

The Slim stargazers ( Leptoscopidae ) are a family of perch relatives ( Percomorphaceae ). The fish live in the sea around South Australia and New Zealand and wander occasionally in brackish water lagoons and estuaries. The New Zealand Art Leptoscopus macropygus also goes into the lower reaches of the rivers.

Features

The Leptoscopidae have an elongated, scaly body with a long dorsal and anal fin. The two ventral fins are widely spaced. The mouth is slightly upper constant, the lips have fringes. The eyes are directed upwards. The lateral line is centered on the flanks. The partially similar characteristics having stargazers ( Uranoscopidae ) are not closely related with the Slim stargazers.

The fish are, depending on the type, 11 to 17 inches long.

Outer systematics

After Odani & Imamura the Slim stargazers are the sister group of the sand cave fish ( Creediidae ), with whom they share a total of 43 autapomorphies. Sister group of the clade formed by the two families are the sand diver ( Trichonotidae ) and / or the subfamily Hemerocoetinae from the family of beak fish ( Percophidae ), so do not form a monophyletic group more. The close relationship of all four groups is supported by 17 autapomorphies.

Genera and species

  • Genus Crapatalus Günther, 1861 Crapatalus angusticeps ( Hutton, 1874)
  • Crapatalus munroi Last & Edgar, 1987
  • Crapatalus novaezelandiae Günther, 1861
  • Leptoscopus macropygus ( Richardson, 1846)
  • Lesueurina platycephala Fowler, 1908
Acanthomorpha Fish fin Autapomorphy Trichonotus Theodore Gill John Richardson (naturalist) Joseph S. Nelson FishBase
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