Kurtus gulliveri
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Kurtiformes
Family: Kurtidae
Genus: Kurtus
Species:
K. gulliveri
Binomial name
Kurtus gulliveri
Castelnau, 1878

Kurtus gulliveri, the nurseryfish, is a species of fish in the family Kurtidae native to fresh and brackish waters in southern New Guinea and northern Australia.[1][2] They can be found in estuaries, mangrove swamps, nipa swamps and slow-flowing rivers with high turbidity. This species can reach a length of 63 cm (25 in),[3] although most are far smaller: In a study of its morphology, 159 specimens were examined and the largest was 33 cm (13 in), while the average was 14 cm (5.5 in).[2] This species is famous for its unusual breeding strategy where the male carries the egg cluster on a hook protruding from the forehead (supraoccipital).[2] Females do not have a hook.[2] It feeds on crustaceans (especially prawn and shrimp), small fish and insect larvae.[4] This species is well regarded as food.[3] The specific name honours a "Mr Gulliver" who collected the type, thought most likely to refer to Thomas Allen Gulliver (1847-1931) who worked on Australia's a post and telegraph services and who lived near the Norman River, Gulf of Carpentaria where he collected natural history specimens and where the type of this species was collected.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 Jenkins, A.; Kullander, F.F. & Tan, H.H. (2009). "Kurtus gulliveri". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2009: e.T169365A6612450. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2009-2.RLTS.T169365A6612450.en.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Berra, T.B. (2003). Nurseryfish, Kurtus gulliveri (Perciformes: Kurtidae), from northern Australia: redescription, distribution, egg mass, and comparison with K. indicus from southeast Asia. Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwaters 14(4): 295-306.
  3. 1 2 Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2013). "Kurtus gulliveri" in FishBase. August 2013 version.
  4. ↑ Berra, T.B.; and Wedd, D. (2001). Alimentary canal anatomy and diet of the nurseryfish, Kurtus gulliveri (Perciformes: Kurtidae) from the Northern Territory of Australia. The Beagle, Records of the Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory 17: 21-25.
  5. ↑ 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 17 September 2018.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.