Dentex


Dentex is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Sparidae, which includes the seabreams and porgies. The fishes in this genus are found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the eastern Indian and Western Pacific Oceans.

Taxonomy

Dentex was first proposed as a genus by the French zoologist Georges Cuvier in 1814, Sparus dentex was the type species by absolute tautonymy. S. dentex had been described in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th Edition of his Systema Naturae from the Mediterranean Sea. The five Indo-Pacific species form a species complex called the Dentex hypselosomus species complex but have not been separated into their own genus. This genus is placed in the family Sparidae within the order Spariformes by the 5th edition of Fishes of the World. Some authorities classify this genus in the subfamily Denticinae, but the 5th edition of Fishes of the World does not recognise subfamilies within the Sparidae.

Etymology

Dentex means "with large teeth, and is tautonymous with Linnaeus's Sparus dentex, and is a reference to the large teeth in both jaws.

Species

There are currently 14 recognized species in this genus:Dentex abei Iwatsuki, Akazaki & Taniguchi, 2007 Dentex angolensis Poll & Maul, 1953 Dentex barnardi Cadenat, 1970 Dentex canariensis Steindachner, 1881 Dentex carpenteri Iwatsuki, S. J. Newman & B. C. Russell, 2015 Dentex congoensis Poll, 1954 Dentex dentex Dentex fourmanoiri Akazaki & Séret, 1999 Dentex gibbosus Dentex hypselosomus Bleeker, 1854 Dentex macrophthalmus Dentex maroccanus Valenciennes, 1830 Dentex spariformis J. D. Ogilby, 1910
The Eocene fossil species Dentex laekeniensis van Beneden, 1872 is generally placed in its own genus, Ctenodentex.

Characteritstics

Dentex seabreams are characterised within the Sparidae by the possession of a series of sharp conical teeth in each jaw, 4 in the upper jaw and 6 in the lower jaw, These teeth are enlarged and canine-like and they have no molar-like teeth. The scales between the eyes extend to near a level with the front part of the orbit. The flange on the preoperculum is completely covered in scales. The largest species in the genus is the pink dentex with a maximum published fork length of while the smallest is D. fourmanoiri which has a maximum published standard length of.

Distribution

Dentex sea breams are found in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean, from Europe to Namibia, and in the Eastern Indian and Western Pacific Ocean from Japan south to Australia.