Rainbow Runner - Taxonomy and Naming

Taxonomy and Naming

The rainbow runner is the only species in the monotypic genus Elagatis, which is one of thirty genera in the jack family, Carangidae. The Carangidae are Perciform fishes in the suborder Percoidei. The species was first scientifically described in 1825 by French zoologists Jean René Constant Quoy and Joseph Paul Gaimard based on the type specimen collected from the Indian Ocean, somewhere in the Malay Archipelago. They named the species Seriola bipinnulata, believing the species was related to the amberjacks. This was later revised to the genus Seriolichthys by Bleeker before it was concluded the species warranted a new genus. The genus Micropteryx was initially created, but was already in use in the Lepidoptera. In 1840, Frederick Debell Bennett created the genus Elagatis, taken from a name published in a whaling voyage memoir, which he used in combination with the species name of bipinnulatus, which was deemed to be incorrect as the genus name is feminine and the original spelling of bipinnulata was reinstated. Phylogenetically, the species is most closely related to the amberjack genus, Seriola, being the most basal member identified of the carangid subfamily Naucratini. This has been determined by the sequencing of the mitochondrial cytochrome b genome, as well as older morphological studies.

The species wide range has led to a wide array of local common names, with the most common English name being 'rainbow runner' in reference to its colouring. Other names frequently applied include rainbow yellowtail, Hawaiian salmon, Salmon (incorrectly), Spanish Jack, Salmon del Alto (Cuba), as well as over twenty other names in various languages.