Rypticus subbifrenatus
Spotted Soapfish
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Serranidae (Sea Basses and Groupers)
Rypticus
Rypticus subbifrenatus (Spotted Soapfish)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
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Characters
Rayed sections of dorsal and anal fins fleshy; inner pelvic rays connected to body by membrane; anterior naris tubular and moderately separated from posterior naris; maxilla extends beyond posterior margin of orbit; jaw, vomerine, and palatine teeth villiform, with posterior teeth in jaws and vomer slightly enlarged; margin of preoperculum semicircular, with one or two spines; gill rakers on first arch short and number 7 to 10, excluding rudiments; head length 36%–42% SL, snout length 6%–10% SL, upper jaw length 16%–20% SL, pre-dorsal-fin length 40%–52% SL; pectoral fin rounded with 14 to 16 (usually 14 or 15) rays; dorsal fin with rounded posterior margin, three or four spines, and 20 to 24 rays; anal fin with rounded posterior margin, 13 to 16 (usually 14 or 15) rays, and lacking spines; caudal fin rounded; scales small and embedded; head, except lips, covered with scales; skin covered with thick mucus containing toxin (grammistin); vertebrae number 24 (10 precaudal and 14 caudal); pyloric caecae number three.
Olive green to reddish brown, with widely spaced dark brown to black spots; spots limited to head and anterior part of body in adults.
Distribution
Western Atlantic from southern Florida and Bermuda to Venezuela, including the Gulf of Mexico, the Bahamas, and the Antilles.
Known from Texas and Veracruz in the Gulf of Mexico.
Habitat Associations
Shallow water, associated with coral reefs and other areas with clear water.
Biology
Maximum known size is 105 mm SL.
Inhabits clear tropical waters to depths of 26 m, but it is found most commonly at 1-2 m (mean maximum depth of specimens collected is 5 m, only 6 were captured deeper than 15 m). Lives in tide pools, among coral rubble, in patch reefs and shallow spur and groove reef areas, occasionally found on steep vertical walls (Ref. 89885). A solitary species (Ref. 26340). Adults are said to prefer clearer waters than juveniles (Ref. 7320).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2012-08-23.
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: commercial.
References
Courtenay 1967
Böhlke and Chaplin 1968
Hoese and Moore 1977
Hoese and Moore 1998
Castro-Aguirre and Márquez-Espinoza 1981
Robins and Ray 1986
Retzer 1990
Schaldach et al. 1997
Smith 1997
Smith-Vaniz et al. 1999
Heemstra 2002c
Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray (1986) A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p.
Maugé, L.A. (1990) Grammistidae. p. 709-710. In J.C. Quero, J.C. Hureau, C. Karrer, A. Post and L. Saldanha (eds.) Check-list of the fishes of the eastern tropical Atlantic (CLOFETA). JNICT, Lisbon; SEI, Paris; and UNESCO, Paris. Vol. 2.
Baldwin, C.C. and L.A. Weigt (2012) A new species of soapfish (Teleostei: Serranidae: Rypticus), with redescription of R. subbifrenatus and comments on the use of DNA barcoding in systematic studies. Copeia 2012(1):23-36.
Comments On Rypticus subbifrenatus