Spikefish

Spikefishes
Temporal range: Oligocene–Recent
Parahollardia lineata
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Tetraodontiformes
Suborder: Triacanthoidei
Family: Triacanthodidae
T. N. Gill, 1862
Subfamilies and genera [1]

see text

The spikefishes (family Triacanthodidae) are ray-finned fishes related to the pufferfishes and triggerfishes. They live in deep waters; more than 50 m (160 ft), but above the continental shelves. They are found in the Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and the west-central Pacific.[2]

The spikefishes are quite variable in form, with some species having tubular snouts (greatly elongated in Halimochirurgus and Macrorhamphosodes), and others have spoon-like teeth for scraping the scales off other fishes. Depending on the exact species involved, they reach a maximum length of about 5–22 centimetres (2.0–8.7 in).

While spikefish are shaped in a wide variety of different colors, sizes, and shapes, they can characterized by their similarities of having a dense body with relatively thick skin, a large amount of tiny yet spiky scales, two dorsal fins of which the first contains six spines and twelve to eighteen soft spines along the second, a rounded caudal fin, small and terminal mouth with at least 10 average sized conical teeth.

Taxonomy

The spikefish family, Triacanthodidae, was first proposed in 1862 by the American biologist Theodore Gill[3] and, in 1968, James C. Tyler classified it within the suborder Triacanthoidei alongside the Triacanthidae, as well as proposing the subfamily Hollardinae.[4] The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies this as suborder of the order Tetraodontiformes.[5]

Subfamiles and genera

The spikefish family, Triacanthodidae, is divided into two subfamilies and eleven genera as follows:[6]

References

  1. ^ Matsuura, K. (2014). "Taxonomy and systematics of tetraodontiform fishes: a review focusing primarily on progress in the period from 1980 to 2014". Ichthyological Research. 62 (1): 72–113. Bibcode:2015IchtR..62...72M. doi:10.1007/s10228-014-0444-5.
  2. ^ Matsuura, K.; Tyler, J.C. (1998). Paxton, J.R.; Eschmeyer, W.N. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 227–228. ISBN 0-12-547665-5.
  3. ^ Richard van der Laan; William N. Eschmeyer & Ronald Fricke (2014). "Family-group names of recent fishes". Zootaxa. 3882 (2): 1–230. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1. PMID 25543675.
  4. ^ Franceso Santini; James C. Tyler (2003). "A phylogeny of the families of fossil and extant tetraodontiform fishes (Acanthomorpha, Tetraodontiformes), Upper Cretaceous to Recent". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 139 (4): 565–617. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2003.00088.x.
  5. ^ Nelson, J.S.; Grande, T.C.; Wilson, M.V.H. (2016). Fishes of the World (5th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 518–526. doi:10.1002/9781119174844. ISBN 978-1-118-34233-6. LCCN 2015037522. OCLC 951899884. OL 25909650M.
  6. ^ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Triacanthodidae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  7. ^ a b Tyler, James C.; Jerzmanska, Anna; Bannikov, Alexandre F.; Swidnicki, Jacek (1993). "Two New Genera and Species of Oligocene Spikefishes (Tetraodontiformes: Triacanthodidae), the First Fossils of the Hollardiinae and Triacanthodinae". Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology (75): 1–27. doi:10.5479/si.00810266.75.1. hdl:10088/1994. ISSN 0081-0266.
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