Borriqueta porgy

The Borriqueta porgy (Boridia grossidens) is a marine ray-finned fish and a type of grunt in the Haemulidae family. It lives along the Atlantic coast of South America and is the sole species in its genus, Boridia.

Description

This fish has a rectangular body and a shallow, blunt head, with eyes set toward the front and a small mouth. The soft-rayed parts of its dorsal and anal fins lack scales, and the dorsal fin has a clear notch between its spiny and soft-rayed sections. The dorsal fin consists of 12 spines and 13 soft rays, while the anal fin has 3 spines and 10 to 11 soft rays.

The first two dorsal spines are low, and the second anal spine is robust. Its pectoral fins are short. The body is light gray, darker on the back, with dark scale margins that create a latticed pattern.

The spiny part of the dorsal fin is gray with darker membranes between the spines, and the soft-rayed parts of the dorsal and anal fins are gray with a darker blotch. The rear parts of the caudal and pelvic fins are dark. It reaches a maximum total length of 32 cm (13 in).

Distribution

The Borriqueta porgy is found in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean, off southern Brazil, Uruguay, and northern Argentina. There is evidence its range is shifting southward due to warming waters, possibly from climate change.

Habitat and biology

It inhabits continental shelf waters and estuaries over soft substrates. It forms distinct pairs for mating. The trematode Diplomonorchis leiostomi is an endoparasite of this species.

Systematics

French anatomist Georges Cuvier first formally described the Borriqueta porgy in 1830, with the type locality given as Brazil. The genus name Boridia comes from a word used by Xenocrates for an unidentified fish, while the species name grossidens combines grossus (large) and dens (teeth), referring to its large front teeth on both jaws.