NEWS108
40
Lexicon
Soldierfishes
adustameans ”burnt,brown”.
hastatusmeans ”armedwitha
spear”.
jacobus:Latinized formof the
name ”Jacob”,as the species is/was
popularlyknownas "Brother
Jacob"onMartinique.
kuntee: this fishwas firstpictured,
without any scientificdescription,
by Russell in1803as ”sullaneroo-
kuntee”(anative name);Valen-
ciennes later referred to this ingi-
ving the speciesavalid scientific
name.
murdjan:after theArabianname
for the species.
Myripristismeans ”withamyriad
of saw-teeth”, referring to the large
numberof spines.
Neoniphonmeans ”newNiphon”;
Niphon isanother fishgenus.
praslin:after theportof the same
name in theSeychelles,where the
specieswas firstdiscovered.
rubrummeans ”red”.
sammara: from theArabianname
”Abumsammer”.
Sargocentronmeans ”Sargoswith
a spine”;Sargos isanold fish
name.
violaceameans ”violet”.
Myripristismurdjan
-bothphotos show the same specimen fromSri Lanka - are relatively frequentlyof-
fered for sale.
Myripristisviolacea
,specimen from thePhilippines.
Deep-sea fishes?
No,themajorityof all soldier-andsquirrel-
fishes occur in relatively shallow water
down toaround30metersofdepth.Onlya
very few species go really deep. Soldier-
andsquirrelfishesareeven regardedasno-
table coral fishes and are foundmainly on
coral reefs.Nevertheless the largeeyesmay
be the result of soldier- and squirrelfishes
originallyevolving in thedeep.This is sup-
portedby,interalia,the fact that to thepre-
sent day close relatives of theHolocentri-
dae inhabit thedeep seaandalso live to a
greatage there:theDeep-SeaPerch (
Hoplo-
stethus atlanticus)
,whichhas aworldwide
distribution and is used commercially as a
food fish, is said to live for up to160 years.
In additionother close relatives of theHo-
locentridae have evolved light organs,
which are otherwise known only from
deep-sea fishes.These so-called flashlight
fishes (Anomalopidae) have light organs
beneath theireyes,which theycanuncover
and illuminate.They then shine sobrightly
that divers can supposedly read in their
light......
Anomalopskatoptron
,oneof the famed flash-
light fishes.The similarity to the soldierfishes
isunmistakable.
