Kingdom Animalia Family Kuhliidae Genus Flagtail Order Perciformes | Class Actinopterygii Phylum Chordata Rank Species | |
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Similar Flagtail, Kuhlia sandvicensis, Kuhlia, Spotted flagtail, Kuhlia mugil | ||
Kuhlia xenura, the strange-tailed flagtail is a species of flagtail endemic to Hawaii, where it occurs in fresh, brackish, and marine waters. It can be found in tide pools, estuaries, and on reefs occurring over sand or rock. This species grows to a standard length of 22.2 cm (8.7 in).
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Taxonomy
The strange-tailed flagtail was previously confused with the Hawaiian flagtail until 2001. It was first described as Xenichthys xenurus on the basis of a specimen mistakenly thought to have come from San Salvador, El Salvador. For over a century, the name Xenichthys xenurus was overlooked in the literature and K. xenura was confused with K. sandvicensis by many authors.
In 2001, the ichthyologist John Ernest Randall and his wife Helen Randall reviewed all nominal flagtail species from the Pacific Ocean. They found out that two species had been lumped together under Kuhlia sandvicensis, one of which had been misidentified as the freshwater K. marginata by some authors (the true K. sandvicensis). They found out that specimens of the common flagtail species from the Hawaiian Islands misidentified as K. sandvicensis matched the description of Xenichthys xenurus and thus Kuhlia xenura became the correct name for one of the two flagtail species from Hawaii.
Description
The strange-tailed flagtail can be distinguished from the Hawaiian flagtail in having a large eye relative to the size of the head, a straight dorsal head profile, and an olive/bronze tinge along the back.