Pseudotolithus
{{Short description|Genus of fishes}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| image = FMIB 45832 Rhinoscion epipercus.jpeg
| image_caption = Pseudotolithus epipercus
| taxon = Pseudotolithus
| authority = Bleeker, 1863
| type_species = Pseudotolithus typus
| type_species_authority = Bleeker, 1863{{Cof family|family=Sciaenidae|access-date=4 July 2023}}
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision = Several, see text
}}
Pseudotolithus is a genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Sciaenidae, the drums or croakers. The species in this genus are found in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean.
Taxonomy
Pseudotolithus was first proposed as a genus in 1863 by the Dutch physician, herpetologist and ichthyologist Pieter Bleeker when he described the new species P. brachygnathus, P. epipercus and P. typus.{{cite journal | author = Bleeker, P. | year = 1863 | title = Mémoire sur les poissons de la côte de Guinée | journal = Natuurkundige Verhandelingen van de Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen te Haarlem (Ser. 2) | volume = 18 (1862) | pages = 1–136 | url = https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=2floAAAAcAAJ&pg=GBS.PR2&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en | language=French}} P. typus was designated as the type species by virtue of being named typus. Ethelwynn Trewavas placed the eastern Atlantic Afrotropical sciaenids, Pseudotolithus and Pteroscion, in the tribe Pseudotolithini.{{cite book | author = A. R. Longhurst | year = 1969 | title = A synopsis of biological data on West African croakers (Pseudotolithus typus, P. senegalensis and P. elongatus) | publisher = Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations | place = Rome | url = https://www.fao.org/3/95906e/95906e.pdf}} Other workers have placed this tribe in the subfamily Pseudotolithinae alongside the tribe Miracorvini, Miracorvina and Pentheroscion.{{cite journal | author = Kunio Sasaki | year = 1989 | title = Phylogeny of the family Sciaenidae, with notes on its Zoogeography (Teleostei, Peciformes) | journal = Memoirs of the Faculty of Fishes Hokkaido University | volume = 36 | issue = 1–2 | pages = 1–137 | url = https://eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2115/21886/1/36(1_2)_P1-137.pdf}} However, the 5th edition of Fishes of the World does not recognise tribes or subfamilies within the Sciaenidae which it places 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=2023-07-05 |archive-date=2019-04-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408194051/https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ |url-status=dead }}
Etymology
Pseudotolithus prefixes Otolithus with pseudo meaning "false" due to Bleeker's perceived false resemblance between these fishes and those of that genus.{{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 = 5 July 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
Pseudotolithus has the following valid species classified within it:{{FishBase genus|genus=Pseudotolithus|month=February|year=2023}}
- Pseudotolithus brachygnathus Bleeker, 1863{{Cof genus|genus=Pseudotolithus|access-date=4 July 2023}}
- Pseudotolithus elongatus (Bowdich, 1825) (bobo croaker)
- Pseudotolithus epipercus (Bleeker, 1863) (Guinea croaker)
- Pseudotolithus moorii (Günther, 1865) (Cameroon croaker)
- Pseudotolithus senegalensis (Valenciennes, 1833) (cassava croaker)
- Pseudotolithus senegallus (Cuvier, 1830) (law croaker)
- Pseudotolithus typus (Bleeker, 1863) (longneck croaker)
Characteristics
Pseudotolithus croakers have a carrot-shaped swim bladder running the whole length of the body cavity with a pair of long tube-like appendages growing out of its front. These appendages branch into as many as 32 tubules. They do not have any barbels on the chin. The largest species in the genus is the law croaker (P. senegallus) which has a maximum published total length of {{cvt|230|cm}} while the smallest is the bobo croaker (P. elongatus) at {{cvt|47|cm}}.