Biology:Sweeper
| Pempheridae | |
|---|---|
| |
| Glassy sweepers (Pempheris schomburgkii) | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Perciformes |
| Family: | Pempheridae Bleeker, 1859[1] |
| Genera | |
|
seetext | |
Sweepers are small, tropical marine (occasionally brackish) perciform fish of the family Pempheridae. Found in the western Atlantic Ocean and Indo-Pacific region, the family contains about 26 species in two genera. One species (Pempheris xanthoptera) is the target of subsistence fisheries in Japan , where the fish is much enjoyed for its taste. Sweepers are occasionally kept in marine aquaria.
Description
Deeply keeled, compressed bodies and large eyes typify sweepers, their form somewhat like hatchetfish; both cycloid and ctenoid scales may be present. The small, short dorsal fin begins before the body's midpoint and may have four to seven spines; the anal fin is extensive and usually has three spines. The mouth is subterminal and strongly oblique. Species of the genus Parapriacanthus have much more cylindrical bodies.
Some species possess photophores. All but the curved sweeper (Pempheris poeyi) possess a gas bladder. The largest species is the common bullseye (Pempheris multiradiata) at 28 cm (11 in) long; most other species measure 16 cm (6.3 in) or less. Colouration is relatively subdued.
Behaviour
Characteristically shallow water, schooling fish (especially as juveniles), sweepers are nocturnal and seek shelter under ledges or in the caves, nooks, and crannies of reefs or eroded, rocky shorelines during the day. They are often found sharing these hiding places with cardinalfishes and bigeyes, also nocturnal species. At night, sweepers forage for zooplankton, their primary food.
At least one species, the small-scale bullseye (Pempheris compressa) of Australia, is known to enter coastal estuaries whilst young.
Genera
The following genera are classified within the family Pempheridae:[2][3]
- Parapriacanthus Steindachner, 1870
- Pempheris Cuvier, 1829
Timeline
<timeline> ImageSize = width:1000px height:auto barincrement:15px PlotArea = left:10px bottom:50px top:10px right:10px
Period = from:-65.5 till:10 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:-65.5 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:-65.5 TimeAxis = orientation:hor AlignBars = justify
Colors =
#legends id:CAR value:claret id:ANK value:rgb(0.4,0.3,0.196) id:HER value:teal id:HAD value:green id:OMN value:blue id:black value:black id:white value:white id:cenozoic value:rgb(0.54,0.54,0.258) id:paleogene value:rgb(0.99,0.6,0.32) id:paleocene value:rgb(0.99,0.65,0.37) id:eocene value:rgb(0.99,0.71,0.42) id:oligocene value:rgb(0.99,0.75,0.48) id:neogene value:rgb(0.999999,0.9,0.1) id:miocene value:rgb(0.999999,0.999999,0) id:pliocene value:rgb(0.97,0.98,0.68) id:quaternary value:rgb(0.98,0.98,0.5) id:pleistocene value:rgb(0.999999,0.95,0.68) id:holocene value:rgb(0.999,0.95,0.88)
BarData=
bar:eratop bar:space bar:periodtop bar:space bar:NAM1
bar:space bar:period bar:space bar:era
PlotData=
align:center textcolor:black fontsize:M mark:(line,black) width:25 shift:(7,-4) bar:periodtop from: -65.5 till: -55.8 color:paleocene text:Paleocene from: -55.8 till: -33.9 color:eocene text:Eocene from: -33.9 till: -23.03 color:oligocene text:Oligocene from: -23.03 till: -5.332 color:miocene text:Miocene from: -5.332 till: -2.588 color:pliocene text:Plio. from: -2.588 till: -0.0117 color:pleistocene text:Pleist. from: -0.0117 till: 0 color:holocene text:H.
bar:eratop from: -65.5 till: -23.03 color:paleogene text:Paleogene from: -23.03 till: -2.588 color:neogene text:Neogene from: -2.588 till: 0 color:quaternary text:Q.
PlotData=
align:left fontsize:M mark:(line,white) width:5 anchor:till align:left
color:pliocene bar:NAM1 from: -5.332 till: 0 text: Pempheris
PlotData=
align:center textcolor:black fontsize:M mark:(line,black) width:25
bar:period from: -65.5 till: -55.8 color:paleocene text:Paleocene from: -55.8 till: -33.9 color:eocene text:Eocene from: -33.9 till: -23.03 color:oligocene text:Oligocene from: -23.03 till: -5.332 color:miocene text:Miocene from: -5.332 till: -2.588 color:pliocene text:Plio. from: -2.588 till: -0.0117 color:pleistocene text:Pleist. from: -0.0117 till: 0 color:holocene text:H.
bar:era from: -65.5 till: -23.03 color:paleogene text:Paleogene from: -23.03 till: -2.588 color:neogene text:Neogene from: -2.588 till: 0 color:quaternary text:Q.
</timeline>
References
- ↑ Richard van der Laan; William N. Eschmeyer; Ronald Fricke (2014). "Family-group names of Recent fishes". Zootaxa 3882 (2): 001–230. https://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.3882.1.1/10480.
- ↑ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron; van der Laan, Richard, eds. "Genera in the family Pempheridae". California Academy of Sciences. http://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/fishcatget.asp?tbl=genus&family=Pempheridae.
- ↑ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2014). "Pempheridae" in FishBase. February 2014 version.
Wikidata ☰ Q1362711 entry
 |  |
