Animal Species:Cosmopolitan Rubyfish, Plagiogeneion rubiginosum (Hutton, 1875)

Alternative Name/s

Rubyfish

Identification

The Cosmopolitan Rubyfish is a moderately elongate species that has a single continuous dorsal fin and a strongly forked tail. Fishes in the family Emmelichthyidae are often called Bonnetmouths. This name refers to the highly protrusible mouth.

Two species of Plagiogeneion are known from Australian waters. The second species, the Bigscale Rubyfish, Plagiogeneion macrolepis, looks similar to the Cosmopolitan Rubyfish, but has larger scales (48-51 scales in the lateral line versus 67-74). The Bigscale Rubyfish occurs from the Great Australian Bight to south-western Western Australia.

Size range

The species grows to 60 cm in length.

Distribution

The Cosmopolitan Rubyfish occurs in temperate continental shelf and slope waters (down to 550 m) of the Eastern Atlantic Ocean and Indo-West Pacific. In Australia it is known from the central coast of New South Wales to Bass Strait.

Distribution by collection data

Biomaps map of Cosmopolitan Rubyfish specimens in the Australian Museum collection.

What does this mean?

Classification

Species:

rubiginosum

Genus:

Plagiogeneion

Family:

Emmelichthyidae

Order:

Perciformes

Class:

Actinopterygii

Subphylum:

Vertebrata

Phylum:

Chordata

Kingdom:

Animalia

What does this mean?

References

1. Heemstra, P.C. & J.E. Randall. 1977. A revision of the Emmelichthyidae (Pisces: Perciformes). Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research. 28: 361-396.
2. May, J.L. & J.G.H. Maxwell. 1986. A field guide to trawl fish from temperate waters of Australia. CSIRO Division of Fisheries Research. Pp. 492.

Mark McGrouther , Collection Manager, Ichthyology
Last Updated: 22 February 2012

Tags Fishes, Ichthyology, Cosmopolitan Rubyfish, Plagiogeneion rubiginosus, Plagiogeneion rubiginosum, Emmelichthyidae,