Bahaba
{{Short description|Genus of fishes}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| image =
| image_caption =
| taxon = Bahaba
| authority = Herre, 1935
| type_species = Otolithes (Bahaba) lini
| type_species_authority = Herre, 1935{{Cof family | family = Sciaenidae | access-date = 22 April 2023}}
}}
Bahaba is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Sciaenidae, the drums and croakers. These fishes are found in the Indo-West Pacific region.
Taxonomy
Bahaba was first proposed as a monotypic subgenus of the genus Otolithes in 1935 by the American ichthyologist Albert William Herre with its type species being Otolithes (Bahaba) lini. In 1977 Ethelwynn Trewavas treated it as a valid genus in her paper called The sciaenid fishes (croakers or drums) of the Indo-West-Pacific published in the Transactions of the Zoological Society of London and most authorities now treat the genus as valid. Trewavas also stated that Herre's Otolithes lini was a junior synonym of Nibea taipingensis, which Herre had described in 1932.{{Cof genus|genus=Bahaba|access-date=24 April 2023}} Bahaba belongs to the family Sciaenidae in the order Acanthuriformes.{{cite book |title=Fishes of the World |edition=5th |author1=J. S. Nelson |author2=T. C. Grande |author3=M. V. H. Wilson |year=2016 |pages=497–502 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-118-34233-6 |url=https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ |access-date=2023-04-24 |archive-date=2019-04-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408194051/https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ |url-status=dead }} Some authorities place Bahaba in the subfamily Pseudosciaeninae{{cite journal | author1 = Wei He | author2 = Wei-Hua Lu | author3 = Xi-Guo Li | author4 = Ning-Ning Lu | author5 = Dong-Fang Sun | author6 = Yong-Zheng Li | display-authors = 3 | year = 2012 | title = Taxonomic status of Chinese bahaba (Bahaba taipingensis) and its phylogenetic relationship with other species in the family Sciaenidae | journal = Mitochondrial DNA | volume = 23 | issue =2 | pages = 53–61 | doi = 10.3109/19401736.2011.653797| pmid = 22397374 }} but subfamilies are not recognised within Sciaenidae by Fishes of the World.
Etymology
Bahaba is the word used in the Samal language of the Sulu region of Mindanao in the Philippines for drums and croakers.{{cite web | url = https://etyfish.org/eupercaria/ | title = Series Eupercaria (Incertae sedis): Families Callanthidae, Centrogenyidae, Dinopercidae, Emmelichthyidae, Malacanthidae, Monodactylidae, Moronidae, Parascorpididae, Sciaenidae and Sillagidae | work = The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database | editor1 = Christopher Scharpf | editor2 = Kenneth J. Lazara | name-list-style = amp | date = 9 March 2023 | access-date = 24 April 2023 | publisher = Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara | archive-date = 17 February 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220217162719/https://etyfish.org/eupercaria/ | url-status = dead }}
Species
The currently recognized species in this genus are:{{FishBase genus | genus = Bahaba | month = February| year = 2023}}
- Bahaba chaptis F. Hamilton, 1822 (Chaptis bahaba)
- Bahaba polykladiskos Bleeker, 1897 (spine bahaba)
- Bahaba taipingensis Herre, 1932 (Chinese bahaba)
Characteristics
Bahaba is distinguished from other sciaenids by the form of their swim bladder which has unbranched horn-like or tube-like appendages which start at the anterior end of the swim bladder and are directed to the rear.{{cite book | editor1 = Carpenter, K.E. | editor-first2 = Volker H. | editor-last2 = Neim | name-list-style = amp | year = 2001 | title = The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific Volume 5: Bony fishes part 3 (Menidae to Pomacentridae) | series = FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes | publisher = FAO Rome | author = K. Sasaki | chapter = Sciaenidae | page = 3117 | url = https://www.fao.org/3/y0770e/y0770e34.pdf}} The Chinese bahaba is the largest species, having a maximum published total length of {{cvt|200|cm}} while that of the chaptis bahaba is {{cvt|50|cm}} and the spine bahaba is {{cvt|40|cm}}.
Distribution and habitat
Bahaba is found in the Indo-West Pacific with one species in the coastal Bay of Bengal,{{Fishbase|Bahaba|chaptis|month=February|year=2023}} one endemic to the coastal waters of southern China{{Fishbase|Bahaba|taipingensis|month=February|year=2023}} and the third in Southeast Asia.{{Fishbase|Bahaba|polykladiskos|month=February|year=2023}}