Parahollardia is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Triacanthodidae, the spikefishes. These demersal fishes are found in the Western Atlantic Ocean.
Parahollardia was first proposed as a monospecific genus in 1941 by the British ichthyologist Alec Fraser-Brunner with Triacanthodes lineatus designated as its type species, and its only species. T. lineatus was first formally described in 1935 by the Canadian-American botanist and marine biologist William Harding Longley with its type locality given as Tortugas in Florida. In 1968 the American ichthyologist James C. Tyler classified this genus, alongside Hollardia in a new subfamily of the family Triacanthodidae, the Hollardiinae.[1] The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies the family Triacanthodidae in the suborder Triacanthoidei in the order Tetraodontiformes.[2]
Parahollardia means "close to Hollardia", an allusion to the close relationship of the two genera.[3]
Parahollardia contains the following 2 valid species:[4]
Parahollardia spikefishes have rather deep, slightly compressed bodies with small mouths that open to the front and a short snout. There are 2 series of conical teeth on each jaw with between 1 and 10, typically 2 to 4, irregularly positioned teeth outside of the outer row. The dorsal fin typically has its origin origin immediately to the rear of the gill opening's top corner. It is supported by six spines, the first being long and robust, and these decrease in size towards the rear and the spines can be locked upright the soft rays are branched. There is a single large lockable spine in the pelvic fin too. The lower surface of the scale-covered part of the pelvis is rounded. These fishes have thick, rough skin which is covered in many small scales, each one with tiny spines on it.[5] These are small fishes with maximum published lengths of total length for P. lineata.
Parahollardia spikefishes are found in the Western Atlantic Ocean off the southeatern United States, in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. P. lineata is found at depths between over soft substrates close to the edge of the continetal shelf and along the continental slope.[6]