Sandburrower

Sandburrowers
New Zealand sand diver, Tewara cranwellae Drawing by Dr Tony Ayling
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Creediidae
Genera
Apodocreedia Chalixodytes Creedia Crystallodytes Limnichthys Schizochirus Tewara See text for species.
Synonyms
Limnichthyidae

The sandburrowers or simply burrowers are a family, Creediidae, of fishes in the order Perciformes.

They are native to coastal waters the Indian and Pacific Oceans. They are very small fishes: with the exception of the larger Donaldson's sandburrower, Limnichthys donaldsoni, most species reach only 3 to 7 cm in length. They live in shallow waters close to the shore, burrowing into sandy areas swept by currents or by surf.

Species

There are seventeen species in seven genera:

• Genus Apodocreedia de Beaufort, 1948
  • Longfin burrower, Apodocreedia vanderhorsti de Beaufort, 1948.
• Genus Chalixodytes Schultz, 1943
  • Sand dart, Chalixodytes chameleontoculis Smith, 1957.
  • Saddled sandburrower, Chalixodytes tauensis Schultz, 1943.
• Genus Creedia Ogilby, 1898
  • Creedia alleni Nelson, 1983.
  • Creedia bilineatus Shimada & Yoshino, 1987.
  • Slender sand-diver, Creedia haswelli (Ramsay, 1881).
  • Half-scaled sand-diver, Creedia partimsquamigera Nelson, 1983.
• Genus Crystallodytes Fowler, 1923
  • South Pacific Sandburrower, Crystallodytes cookei Fowler, 1923.
  • Crystallodytes pauciradiatus Nelson & Randall, 1985.
• Genus Limnichthys Waite, 1904
  • Donaldson's sandburrower, Limnichthys donaldsoni Schultz, 1960.
  • Barred sand burrower, Limnichthys fasciatus Waite, 1904.
  • Sand submarine, Limnichthys nitidus Smith, 1958.
  • Limnichthys orientalis Yoshino, Kon & Okabe, 1999.
  • Tommyfish, Limnichthys polyactis Nelson, 1978.
  • Limnichthys rendahli Parrott, 1958.
• Genus Schizochirus Waite, 1904
  • Schizochirus insolens Waite, 1904.
• Genus Tewara Griffin, 1933
  • New Zealand sand diver, Tewara cranwellae Griffin, 1933.

See also

• List of fish families

References

• Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2006). "Creediidae" in FishBase. January 2006 version.
• "Creediidae". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=171022. Retrieved 25 March 2006.