Paranthias colonus

Paranthias colonus (the Pacific creolefish) is a species of grouper found in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. They are typically found in small aggregations well above reefs, but will retreat to the reef at the approach of danger. They form large midwater schools while feeding on plankton. They occur up the a depth of 100 m. They feed mainly on small planktonic animals that are picked individually from the water, made possible by their shortened snout which facilitates close-range binocular vision.[3]

Pacific creolefish
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Serranidae
Subfamily: Epinephelinae
Genus: Paranthias
Species:
P. colonus
Binomial name
Paranthias colonus
(Valenciennes, 1846)
Synonyms[2]
  • Serranus colonus Valenciennes, 1846
  • Paranthias pinguis Walford, 1936

Description

From:[3] The body of the Pacific creolefish is elongate, fusiform. The head is small, both profiles are convex. There are 37–44 rakers on the first gill arch. Dorsal rays IX, 19–21; anal rays III, 9-11; pectoral rays 19–23. The tail fin is strongly concave. Pacific creolefish grow to ~36 cm.

Pacific creolefish young are often bright yellow with five small dark spots on back. The adults are greenish brown dorsally and reddish below, with five white or blue-white spots on the back. The fins are reddish.

Distribution

Eastern Pacific: Gulf of California to Peru, including the Revillagigedo, Galapagos, Clipperton, Cocos Island, and Malpelo islands.[2]

Parasites

As all fish species, the Pacific creolefish harbours a number of parasites, including, off Mexico, the digeneans Prodistomum orientalis, Brachyphallus sp., Lecithochirium sp., the nematodes Anisakis sp. and Spinitectus sp., the copepods Caligus sp., and the isopods Hatschekia sp.[4] The diplectanid monogenean Pseudorhabdosynochus jeanloui was described in 2015 from this fish off Peru.[5]

References
  1. Erisman, B. & Craig, M.T. (2018). "Paranthias colonus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T132822A100571580. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T132822A100571580.en. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  2. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2019). "Paranthias colonus" in FishBase. December 2019 version.
  3. Encyclopedia of Life. "Details for: Pacific Creolefish". Encyclopedia of Life. Retrieved 2013-07-15.
  4. Mendoza-Cruz, M, Valles-Vega, I, Lozano-Cobo, H, Gómez del Prado-Rosas, MC & Castro-Moreno, PN. 2013. Parasite fauna of Paranthias colonus (Valenciennes, 1846) from el Sargento, Baja California Sur, Mexico. Neotropical Helminthology, vol. 7, N°1, jan-jun, pp. 13-28 PDF
  5. Knoff, Marcelo; Cohen, Simone Chinicz; Cárdenas, Melissa Querido; Cárdenas-Callirgos, Jorge M.; Gomes, Delir Corrêa (2015). "A new species of diplectanid (Monogenoidea) from Paranthias colonus (Perciformes, Serranidae) off Peru". Parasite. 22: 11. doi:10.1051/parasite/2015011. PMC 4353888. PMID 25754099.
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