Pteropterus

Pteropterus
Pteropterus radiatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Scorpaenidae
Subfamily: Pteroinae
Genus: Pteropterus
Swainson, 1839
Type species
Pterois radiata
G. Cuvier, 1829

Pteropterus is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. It is one of several genera in the subfamily Pteroinae which are colloquially referred to as "lionfish".

Taxonomy

The genus Pteropterus was described by William Swainson in 1839. In 1882, Joseph Swain synonymized Pteropterus with Pterois. Since then, Pteropterus has been inconsistently treated as either its own genus or a synonym of Pterois, until 2023, when it was validated after it was discovered that Pterois was not monophyletic.[1][2]

Pteropterus is most closely related to the genus Dendrochirus.[1]

Species

Species include:[1]

Image Scientific name Common name Distribution
P. antennatus

(Bloch, 1787)

Spot-fin lionfish Tropical Indian and Western Pacific Oceans
P. brevipectoralis

(Mandritsa, 2002)

Western Indian Ocean
P. cinctus

(Rüppell, 1838)

Red Sea lionfish[3] Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Red Sea
P. mombasae

(J. L. B. Smith, 1957)

African lionfish, frill-fin turkeyfish tropical Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific
P. paucispinula

(Matsunuma & Motomura, 2014)[4]

India to northern Australia (Timor Sea); north to southern Japan; eastward to Wallis and Futuna Islands
P. radiatus

(G. Cuvier, 1829)

Clear-fin lionfish[3] Red Sea to Sodwana Bay, South Africa and to the Society Islands, north to the Ryukyu Islands, south to New Caledonia
P. sphex

(D. S. Jordan & Evermann, 1903)

Hawaiian turkeyfish Hawaii

References

  1. ^ a b c Chou, Tak-Kei; Liu, Min-Yun; Liao, Te-Yu (2023-05-15). "Systematics of lionfishes (Scorpaenidae: Pteroini) using molecular and morphological data". Frontiers in Marine Science. 10 1109655. Bibcode:2023FrMaS..1009655C. doi:10.3389/fmars.2023.1109655. ISSN 2296-7745.
  2. ^ "CAS - Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes". researcharchive.calacademy.org. Retrieved 2026-03-03.
  3. ^ a b Matsunuma, M.; Motomura, H. (2015). "Redescriptions of Pterois radiata and Pterois cincta (Scorpaenidae: Pteroinae) with notes on geographic morphological variations in P. radiata". Ichthyological Research. 63 (1): 145–172. doi:10.1007/s10228-015-0483-6. S2CID 12191361.
  4. ^ Matsunuma, Mizuki; Motomura, Hiroyuki (2015). "Pterois paucispinula, a new species of lionfish (Scorpaenidae: Pteroinae) from the western Pacific Ocean". Ichthyological Research. 62 (3): 327–346. Bibcode:2015IchtR..62..327M. doi:10.1007/s10228-014-0451-6. S2CID 17791650.