Phantom cardinalfish

Phantom cardinalfish
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Gobiiformes
Family: Apogonidae
Genus:
Species:
L. phasmaticus
Binomial name
Lachneratus phasmaticus

Lachneratus phasmaticus, also known as the phantom cardinalfish, is a species of fish in the family Apogonidae, the cardinalfishes. It is the only member of its genus.[1] It is native to the tropical eastern Pacific and Indian Oceans.[2] This fish can be found in crevices and underwater caves, and it occurs at depths of 3 to 104 m (10 to 340 ft). It grows to a standard length of 7.4 cm (2.9 in).[2]

This species was discovered when "an unusual cardinalfish was taken in a trawl off of Hawaii" around 1969.[3] It was later collected off of Fiji. It was described to science in 1991 and placed in a new genus.[3]

Etymology

The name of the genus honors the American ichthyologist Ernest A. Lachner (1915โ€“1996), who was curator emeritus at the United States National Museum in recognition of his contributions to the systematics of the Indo-Pacific cardinalfishes.[4]

References

  1. ^ Mabuchi, K.; Fraser, T.H.; Song, H.; Azuma, Y.; Nishida, M. (2014). "Revision of the systematics of the cardinalfishes (Percomorpha: Apogonidae) based on molecular analyses and comparative reevaluation of morphological characters" (PDF). Zootaxa. 3846 (2): 151โ€“203. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3846.2.1. PMID 25112246.
  2. ^ a b Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Lachneratus phasmaticus". FishBase. August 2015 version.
  3. ^ a b Fraser, T.H.; Struhsaker, P.J. (1991). "A new genus and species of cardinalfish (Apogonidae) from the Indo-West Pacific, with a key to apogonine genera". Copeia. 1991 (3): 718โ€“722. doi:10.2307/1446398. JSTOR 1446398.
  4. ^ Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara (31 May 2018). "Order KURTIFORMES (Nurseryfishes and Cardinalfishes)". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 21 September 2018.