Acanthistius joanae

Acanthistius joanae
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Anthiadidae
Genus: Acanthistius
Species:
A. joanae
Binomial name
Acanthistius joanae
Heemstra, 2010

Acanthistius joanae, also known as the scalyjaw koester, is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Serranidae, the groupers and sea basses. The species is found along the shores of the Indian Ocean in South Africa.[1][2]

Length

The fish gets up to 14.0 centimetres (5.5 in) in length.[2]

Etymology

The fish is named in honor of Joan Wright, the assistant of Phil Heemstra, who initially discovered the fish. Heemstra had promised Joan in a note he had written that he would name the fish after her, however this was not done until after she had retired around 25 years later.[3]

References

  1. ^ Heemstra, P.C., 2010. Taxonomic review of the perciform fish genus Acanthistius from the east coast of southern Africa, with description of a new species and designation of a neotype for Serranus sebastoides Castelnau, 1861. Zootaxa 2352:59-68.
  2. ^ a b Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Acanthistius joanae". FishBase. December 2020 version.
  3. ^ Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara (22 September 2018). "Order PERCIFORMES (part 4): Suborder SERRANOIDEI: Families SERRANIDAE and ANTHIADIDAE". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 12 October 2025.