Schindleria

Taxobox
name = Infantfishes
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Actinopterygii
ordo = Perciformes
familia = Schindleriidae
genus = "Schindleria"
genus_authority = Giltay, 1934
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = See text.

"Schindleria", is a genus of marine fish. It is the only genus of family Schindleriidae, among the Gobioidei of order Perciformes. The type species is "S. praematura", Schindler's fish. The "Schindleria" species are known generically as Schindler's fishes or infantfishes. They are native to the southern Pacific Ocean, from the South China Sea to the Great Barrier Reef off eastern Australia.

The infantfishes are so called because they retain many of their larval characteristics. Their elongate bodies are transparent, and many of the bones never develop. "S. praematura" reaches a length of 2.5 cm (1.0 in).

All of the "Schindleria" species are reef fishes. They may be among the most common fish of the reefs, based on the results of plankton tows, but because of their transparency and small size, they are infrequently seen in life.

A recently-described species, the stout infantfish, "S. brevipinguis", was briefly the world's smallest known vertebrate at 8 mm (about one-third inch), smaller even than the dwarf gobies, until the new record was set by the 7.9 mm "Paedocypris progenetica" in early 2006.

There are apparently several (at least eight) further "Schindleria" species, native to the Ryukyu Islands, which have yet to be described formally.

Species

* Stout infantfish, "Schindleria brevipinguis" Watson & Walker, 2004.
* "Schindleria pietschmanni" (Schindler, 1931).
* Schindler's fish, "Schindleria praematura" (Schindler, 1930).

References

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* Watson, William, and H. J. Walker, Jr. "The World's Smallest Vertebrate, "Schindleria brevipinguis," a New Paedomorphic Species in the Family Schindleriidae (Perciformes: Gobioidei)". "Records of the Australian Museum" 56: 139-142. [http://www.amonline.net.au/pdf/publications/1429_complete.pdf On-line version (PDF format)] .