Louvar

Louvar
Not evaluated (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Suborder: Acanthuroidei
Family: Luvaridae
T. N. Gill, 1885
Genus: Luvaris
Rafinesque, 1810
Species: L. imperialis
Binomial name
Luvaris imperialis
Rafinesque, 1810
Synonyms

For genus:

  • Ausonia A. Risso, 1827
  • Diana A. Risso, 1827
  • Proctostegus Nardo, 1827
  • Proluvarus Daniltshenko, 1968
  • Astrodermus G. Cuvier, 1829
  • Scrofaria Gistel, 1848

For species:

  • Proctostegus proctostegus Nardo, 1827
  • Proctostegus prototypus Nardo, 1827
  • Diana semilunata A. Risso, 1827
  • Ausonia cuvieri A. Risso, 1827
  • Astrodermus guttatus G. Cuvier, 1829
  • Astrodermus coryphaenoides G. Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1833
  • Coryphaena elegans G. Cuvier, 1833
  • Diana valenciennesii Cocco & Scuderi, 1835
  • Astrodermus elegans Bonaparte, 1839
  • Astroderma plumbeum R. T. Lowe, 1843

The louvar or luvar, Luvaris imperialis, is a species of perciform fish, the only extant species in the genus Luvaris and family Luvaridae. It is closely related to the surgeonfish. The juvenile form has a pair of spines near the base of the tail, like the surgeonfish, though they are lost in the adult.

It is a large, ellipsoidal fish, growing to 200 cm (79 in) long, though most do not exceed 152 cm (60 in). The greatest weight recorded for this species is 150 kg (330 lb).[1] It is pink in color and possesses a characteristic bulging forehead.

It is found in surface waters of temperate and tropical oceans throughout the world where it can be found at depths of from near the surface to 200 m (660 ft). It feeds on jellyfish, ctenophores, and other soft-bodied planktonic animals. It is hardly ever found in fish markets in the United States, only as bycatch, but is prized as an eating fish.[2]

Extinct taxa

One extinct species in the genus Luvaris and two extinct genera are only known from fossils dating back to the Paleogene, three extinct genera if one includes Kushlukia of the monotypic Kushlukiidae:

Timeline

Quaternary Neogene Paleogene Holocene Pleist. Miocene Oligocene Eocene Paleocene Luvarus Quaternary Neogene Paleogene Holocene Pleist. Miocene Oligocene Eocene Paleocene

References

  1. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2013). "Luvarus imperialis" in FishBase. December 2013 version.
  2. "Louvar: A Fish You May Never Taste.". Larry Levine, Table Talk at Larry's. January 3, 2012.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, December 01, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.