Siganidae
Last updated
Roberto Pillon · via Wikipedia: Siganidae · CC BY 3.0
The only living genus is Siganus, though several fossil genera are known.[1] The Perciformes order includes the small ray-finned fish family Siganidae, whose members are known as rabbitfishes.[1] These fish serve as a significant food source for humans, and certain species are favored by aquarium enthusiasts.[2]
Scientific classification
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumChordata
- ClassActinopterygii
- DivisionTeleostei
- OrderAcanthuriformes
- FamilySiganidae
Named by Richardson, 1837
Sources: Wikipedia taxobox: Siganidae (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Quick Facts
- Extant genus
- Siganus Fabricius, 1775
- Distribution
- Indo-Pacific and eastern Mediterranean
Facts from the source article.
Biology and range
Fabricius based his description on notes from naturalist Peter Forsskål, taken during the Danish Arabia expedition (1761–67).[2] Those notes were published posthumously in Carsten Niebuhr's Descriptiones animalium avium, amphibiorum, piscium, insectorum, vermium.[2] The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature has been asked to suppress the name Teuthis in favor of Siganus.[3] Scottish naval surgeon and naturalist Sir John Richardson provided the first formal family description for Siganidae in 1837.[4]
Danish zoologist Johan Christian Fabricius established the genus Siganus in 1775, choosing Siganus rivulatus as its type species.[4] According to the Catalog of Fishes, the authority for Siganus is given as "Fabricius (ex Forsskål) in Niebuhr 1775".[2] The genus Teuthis, with Teuthis hepatus as its type species, was originally described by Carl Linnaeus.[3]
What the specialist sources record
The World Register of Marine Species accepts Siganidae Richardson, 1837, placing it in the order Acanthuriformes and class Teleostei.[5] GBIF records Siganidae as accepted in the order Perciformes, with 100,037 occurrence records as of 7 October 2026.[6]
References
- Wikipedia, "Siganidae" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; ; "Family Siganidae (ray-finned fish)", Paleobiology Database (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Siganidae" (CC BY-SA 4.0) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Siganidae" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Maurice Kottelat, "The fishes of the inland waters of southeast Asia: a catalogue and core bibliography of the fishes known to occur in freshwaters, mangroves and estuaries", Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 2013 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Siganidae" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Family-group names of Recent fishes", Zootaxa, 2014, p. 1–230 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- World Register of Marine Species, Siganidae (AphiaID 125562). CC BY 4.0. marinespecies.org
- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and occurrence index, Siganidae (taxon key 5066). CC BY 4.0 (backbone); counts are facts. gbif.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Siganidae (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
More in Parrotfish and Rabbitfish
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Siganidae (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Word definitions: the Codexery glossary, each quoted from its Wikipedia article.
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