spotted weever
Trachinus araneus Cuvier, 1829
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The spotted weever (Trachinus araneus) is a fish of the family Trachinidae, order Perciformes, and class Actinopterygii.
It is up to 45 cm long, brown and yellow on the head and back, paler below with darker spots along the sides. The body is long and laterally flattened, the mouth almost vertical in the head. The front half of the first dorsal fin is black and consists of three spines, which are highly poisonous, as are the backward-facing spines on the extremities of the gill covers.
The spotted weever lives close to the bottom down to about 100 m. It prefers a subtropical climate; the coordinates are 45°N - 18°S, 19°W -36°E.
The spotted weever can be found from Portugal to Angola and the Mediterranean. It is of minor commercial importance. It inhabits the shallow waters to about 100m depth near rocks and sea grass nearby, burrowing in the bottom. Just as other weevers, it feeds on small fish and crustaceans.
Wikipedia contributors, Spotted weever; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T04:20:28.212902+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Trachinus araneus Cuvier, 1829
- Name authority
- Cuvier, 1829
- Common name
- spotted weever
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Perciformes
- Family
- Trachinidae
- Genus
- Trachinus
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderPerciformes
- suborderPercoidei
- familyTrachinidae Rafinesque, 1815
- genusTrachinus Linnaeus, 1758
- speciesTrachinus araneus Cuvier, 1829
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Trachinus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Trachinus armatus Bleeker, 1861 | TrachinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Trachinus collignoni Roux, 1957 | TrachinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| greater weeverTrachinus draco Linnaeus, 1758 | TrachinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Trachinus pellegrini Cadenat, 1937 | TrachinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| streaked weeverTrachinus radiatus Cuvier, 1829 | TrachinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Trachinus cornutus Guichenot, 1848 | TrachinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Trachinus lineolatus Fischer, 1885 | TrachinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- Cuvier, G., & Valenciennes, A. (1829). Histoire naturelle des poissons. Tome troisième. Suite du Livre troisième. Des percoïdes à dorsale unique à sept rayons branchiaux et à dents en velours ou en cardes. F. G. Levrault, Paris, v. 3: i–xxviii + 2 pp. + 1–500, Pls. 41–71. [Cuvier authored volume. i–xxii + 1–368 in Strasbourg edition.]. Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:57PDH. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.