science

List of marine fishes of South Africa

List of marine fishes of South Africa is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of marine fishes of South Africa rather than just read about it. In short: This is a list of fishes recorded from the oceans bordering South Africa. This part of the list includes any fishes that are not bony fishes., which are the jawless and jawed cartilagenous fishes.

Key takeaways

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Reference excerpt

This is a list of fishes recorded from the oceans bordering South Africa. This part of the list includes any fishes that are not bony fishes., which are the jawless and jawed cartilagenous fishes. This list comprises locally used common names, scientific names with author citation and recorded ranges. Ranges specified may not be the entire known range for the species, but should include the known range within the waters surrounding the Republic of South Africa. List ordering and taxonomy complies where possible with the current usage in World Register of Marine Species, and may differ from the cited source, as listed citations are primarily for range or existence of records for the region. Sub-taxa within any given taxon are arranged alphabetically as a general rule. Details of each species may be available through the relevant internal links. Synonyms may be listed where useful (usually when recorded under the synonym). A fish is an aquatic, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with a tough cranium to protect the brain, but lacking limbs with digits. Fish can be grouped into the more basal jawless fish and the more common jawed fish, the latter including all living cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as the extinct placoderms and acanthodians. In a break from the long tradition of grouping all fish into a single class (Pisces), modern phylogenetics views fish as a paraphyletic group that includes all vertebrates except tetrapods. In English, the plural of "fish" is fish when referring to individuals and fishes when referring to species. Most fish are cold-blooded, their body temperature varying with the surrounding water, though some large, active swimmers like the white shark and tuna can maintain a higher core temperature. Many fish can communicate acoustically with each other, such as during courtship displays. The study of fish is known as ichthyology. There are over 33,000 extant species of fish, easily the largest group of vertebrates and more than all species of the other traditional classes, namely amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, combined. Most fish belong to the class Actinopterygii, the ray-finned fishes, which accounts for approximately half of all living vertebrates. (Full article...)

Infraphylum Agnatha – Jawless fishes (Cyclostomes)

Class Myxini

Order Myxiniformes – Hagfishes Family: Myxinidae

Six-gill hagfish or snotslang Eptatretus hexatrema (Müller, 1834) (Walvis Bay to Durban) Eightgill hagfish Eptatretus octatrema Barnard, 1923 (Agulhas bank) Fivegill hagfish Eptatretus profundus Barnard, 1923 (off Cape Point) Cape hagfish Myxine capensis Regan, 1913 (Cape of Good Hope)

Infraphylum Gnathostomata – Jawed fishes

Parvphylum Chondrichthyes – Cartilaginous fishes

Class Elasmobranchii – Sharks and Rays

Infraclass Batoidea – Rays (including skates, guitarfish and sawfish)

Order Myliobatiformes – Stingrays Family: Dasyatidae – Whiptail stingrays

Short-tail stingray, Dasyatis brevicaudata (Hutton, 1875) (False Bay to Delagoa Bay) Blue stingray Dasyatis chrysonota (Smith, 1828) (Central Angola to Delagoa Bay) (syn. Dasyatis marmoratis) Thorntail stingray, Dasyatis thetidis Ogilby, 1899 (Algoa Bay to Mozambique) Pelagic stingray, Dasyatis violacea (Bonaparte, 1832) (offshore, two records from SA) Dragon stingray, Jenkins' whipray, Himantura draco Compagno and Heemstra, 1984 (off Durban) Sharpnose stingray, whitespotted whipray Himantura gerrardi (Gray, 1851) (Eastern Cape to Mozambique) Honeycomb stingray, reticulate whipray, Himantura uarnak (Forsskål, 1775) (Port Alfred to Mozambique) Roundnose stingray Himantura sp. (Durban bay) Bluespotted stingray, Kuhl's maskray, Neotrygon kuhlii (Müller & Henle, 1841) (Durban to tropical Indo-West Pacific)(Syn. Dasyatis kuhlii) Feathertail stingray, Cowtail stingray, Pastinachus sephen (Forsskål, 1775) (Zululand) (syn. Hypolophus sephen, Dasyatis sephen) Bluespotted ribbontail ray Taeniura lymma (Forsskål, 1775) Round ribbontail ray or giant reef rayTaeniura meyeni Müller & Henle, 1841 (Natal to Red Sea) (syn. Taeniura melanospilos Bleeker, 1853) Porcupine ray, Urogymnus asperrimus (Bloch and Schneider, 1801) (Natal to Indo-West Pacific) Family: Gymnuridae – Butterflyrays

Japanese butterfly ray, Gymnura japonica (Temminck and Schlegel, 1850) (Agulhas bank) (Identification provisional) Backwater butterfly ray, Gymnura natalensis (Gilchrist and Thompson, 1911) (Mossel Bay to southern Mozambique) Family: Hexatrygonidae – Sixgill stingrays

Sixgill stingray, Hexatrygon bickelli Heemstra and Smith, 1980 (Port Elizabeth and Port Alfred) Family: Myliobatidae – Eagle rays

Spotted eagle ray, Aetobatus narinari (Euphrasen, 1790) (Mossel Bay to Mozambique) Bull ray, Aetomylaeus bovinus (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817), also reported as syn. Pteromylaeus bovinus (Saint-Hilaire, 1817) (South-western Cape to Zanzibar) Manta, giant oceanic manta ray, Mobula birostris (Walbaum, 1792), also reported as syn. Manta birostris (Donndorff, 1798) (possibly circumtropical, from the Cape eastwards) Longhorned mobula, Mobula eregoodootenkee (Cuvier, 1829) (Indo-West Pacific south to Natal) Spinetail mobula, devil fish, Mobula mobular (Bonnaterre, 1788), also recorded as syn. Mobula japanica (Müller & Henle, 1841) (Natal) Shortfin devil ray Mobula kuhlii (Valenciennes, 1841) (Port Alfred to Indo-West Pacific) Spiny mobula, Chilean devil ray, Mobula tarapacana (Lloyd, 1908) (Reported from Natal and Jeffrey's Bay) Smoothtail mobula, bentfin devil ray, Mobula thurstoni (Lloyd, 1908) (Reported from Natal and Algoa Bay) Common eagle ray, Myliobatis aquila (Linnaeus, 1758) (Namibia to KwaZulu-Natal) Flapnose ray, Rhinoptera javanica Muller and Henle, 1841 (Durban and north)

Order Rajiformes – Rays, skates and guitarfish Family Anacanthobatidae

Spotted legskate, Anacanthobatis marmorata von Bonde and Swart, 1923 (Durban to southern Mozambique) Family Arhynchobatidae

Bathyraja smithii (Müller & Henle, 1841) (Agulhas bank and west of Cape Town) Family Gurgesiellidae

Cruriraja durbanensis (von Bonde and Swart, 1923) (off Western Cape province) Cruriraja parcomaculata von Bonde and Swart, 1923 (Lüderitz to Durban) also recorded as syn. Cruriraja triangularis Smith, 1964 (Durban to Mozambique) Family: Rajidae – Skates

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of marine fishes of South Africa

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of marine fishes of South Africa claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of marine fishes of South Africa before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of marine fishes of South Africa ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of marine fishes of South Africa

In research: List of marine fishes of South Africa appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses List of marine fishes of South Africa in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: List of marine fishes of South Africa is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Lists of fishes by country, Marine fish of South Africa, South African animal biodiversity lists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for List of marine fishes of South Africa outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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Frequently asked questions

What is List of marine fishes of South Africa in simple terms?

This is a list of fishes recorded from the oceans bordering South Africa. This part of the list includes any fishes that are not bony fishes., which are the jawless and jawed cartilagenous fishes.

Why does List of marine fishes of South Africa matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of marine fishes of South Africa?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of marine fishes of South Africa.