American sole
| American soles | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Achirus lineatus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Pleuronectiformes |
| Suborder: | Soleoidei |
| Family: | Achiridae Rafinesque, 1810 |
| Genera[1] | |
The American soles are a family (Achiridae) of flatfish occurring in both freshwater and marine environments of the Americas. The family includes about 35 species in seven genera. These are closely related to the soles (Soleidae), and have been classified as a subfamily of it, but achirids have a number of distinct characteristics.
Eyes are on the right side, and the eyed-side lower lip has a distinctive fleshy rim. The dorsal and anal fins are usually separate from the caudal fin. The pectoral fins are small or nonexistent. They are fairly small; only Achirus achirus is known to surpass 30 cm (1 ft) in length.[2]
References
- ↑ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2012). "Achiridae" in FishBase. October 2012 version.
- ↑ Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2014). "Achirus achirus" in FishBase. May 2014 version.
See also
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, August 18, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.