Many centrarchiforms look essentially perch-like, featuring a stocky build and a spine-bearing dorsal fin, and range in size from 2.5 cm (0.98 in) in length (for Elassoma gilberti), to 1.8 m (5.9 ft) for the Maccullochella peelii.[5]
The earliest fossils of this group are of Percichthys from the Early Paleocene of Bolivia, although this status is tentative.[6] If these remains are not of a percichthyid, then the earliest known centrarchiform fossils are of oplegnathids from the Early Eocene of Antarctica.[7][8] Phylogenetic inferences suggest that this order diverged from its closest relative, the Labriformes, during the Late Cretaceous, about 83 million years ago.[9]
Centrarchiformes are widespread worldwide, being found in all temperate and tropical nearshore marine habitats, with freshwater radiations also present on several different continents. The largest family-level diversity within the group is found in the Southern Hemisphere, with many families endemic to the coast of Australia. However, the two most speciose groups of the order are found in freshwater, and are widely separated: freshwater members of the Terapontidae are found in Australasia and nearby regions, while the freshwater sunfish (including the iconic largemouth bass) are found throughout North America.[9]
Taxonomy
Percalates is the most basal genus of the order.Kyphosus is common in tropical marine habitats.
Centrarchiformes includes the following subgroups:[10]
^Near, T. J.; Thacker, C. E. (2024). "Phylogenetic Classification of Living and Fossil Ray-Finned Fishes (Actinopterygii)". Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 65 (1). doi:10.3374/014.065.0101.
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