CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · Science & Nature

Agonostomus telfairii

species of fish

Specimen drawers, botanical folios and brass scientific instruments under study light
Science and natureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 4, 2026
Entity authorityQ304861
Source-derived summary

Agonostomus telfairii is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Mugilidae, the mullets. It is known by the common name fairy mullet. It is native to the islands off the eastern coast of Africa, where it can be found in freshwater bodies and estuaries in Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mayotte, and Réunion. It returns to the sea to spawn.

This species grows to a length of 75 centimetres (30 in) TL and is of minor importance to commercial fisheries. The specific name honours the Irish botanist and ship's surgeon Charles Telfair (1778-1833), who is known to have made a botanical and zoological collection in Mauritius in 1810 which included the type of this species.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Agonostomus telfairii” is species of fish. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Agonostomus, telfairii and species, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA practical orientation to terminology and classification, particularly when read beside dated observations, specimens or technical literature. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1778, 1833, 1810—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Agonostomus, telfairii and species is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “species of fish” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q304861. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1778, 1833 and 1810.

Critical limits

Scientific names, classifications and consensus can change while older terminology persists in catalogues and historical literature. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Check terminology, classification and the date of the cited evidence. Scientific names and technical consensus can change while older records retain historical value.

Best used for
  • Current terminology
  • Classification context
  • Finding cited technical literature
Verify next

Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Agonostomus telfairii”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Agonostomus telfairii primary sources, Agonostomus telfairii archive and Agonostomus research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Agonostomus telfairii”?
  2. Is the terminology current, historical or disputed?
  3. Which observation, specimen, dataset or publication supports the account?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Agonostomus telfairii” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.