Cynoscion
Cynoscion is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family, Sciaenidae, the drums and croakers. These fishes are found off the coasts of North and South America in the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific Oceans. Many fishes in this genus have been given the common name weakfish.
Taxonomy
Cynoscion was first proposed as a monospecific genus in 1861 by the American biologist Theodore Gill with Johnnius regalis, a species originally described in 1801 from New York by Marcis Elieser Bloch and Johann G. T. Schneider, designated as its type species. This genus has been placed in the subfamily Cynoscioninae by some workers, but the 5th edition of Fishes of the World does not recognise subfamilies within the Sciaenidae which it places in the order Acanthuriformes.Etymology
Cynoscion is a combination of cyno, meaning "dog", a reference to the pair of canine-like teeth in the upper jaw, with scion, the modern Greek name of Umbrina cirrosa, which Gill preferred over sciaena because he did not like the sound of Cynosciaena. The common name, weakfish, is a reference to the easily torn membrane in the mouth of C. regalis.Species
The genus consists of 25 species:- Cynoscion acoupa
- Cynoscion albus
- Cynoscion analis
- Cynoscion arenarius
- Cynoscion guatucupa
- Cynoscion jamaicensis
- Cynoscion leiarchus
- Cynoscion microlepidotus
- Cynoscion nannus
- Cynoscion nebulosus
- Cynoscion nortoni
- Cynoscion nothus
- Cynoscion othonopterus
- Cynoscion parvipinnis
- Cynoscion phoxocephalus
- Cynoscion praedatorius
- Cynoscion regalis
- Cynoscion reticulatus
- Cynoscion similis
- Cynoscion squamipinnis
- Cynoscion steindachneri
- Cynoscion stolzmanni
- Cynoscion striatus
- Cynoscion virescens
- Cynoscion xanthulus Jordan & Gilbert, 1882