Gempylidae
| Gempylidae | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Oilfish, Ruvettus pretiosus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Perciformes |
| Family: | Gempylidae T. N. Gill, 1862 |
| Genera[1] | |
The Gempylidae are a family of perciform fishes, commonly known as snake mackerels or escolars. The family includes about 25 species.
They are elongated fishes with a similar appearance to barracudas, having a long dorsal fin, usually with one or finlets trailing it. The largest species, including the snoek, Thyrsites atun, grow up to 2 m long. Like the barracudas, they are predators, with fang-like teeth.[2]
They are deep-water benthopelagic fishes, and several species are important commercial and game fishes.
Timeline
See also
- Euzaphlegidae, an extinct group, or possibly subtaxon of extinct relatives endemic to Late Miocene Southern California.
References
- ↑ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2013). "Gempylidae" in FishBase. April 2013 version.
- ↑ Johnson, G.D. & Gill, A.C. (1998). Paxton, J.R. & Eschmeyer, W.N., ed. Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. p. 190. ISBN 0-12-547665-5.
- Sepkoski, Jack (2002). "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera". Bulletins of American Paleontology 364: 560. Retrieved 2011-05-19.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gempylidae. |
- Scientia Marina - Population biology of the roudi escolar Promethichthys prometheus (Gempylidae) off the Canary Islands
- Deep water fish species - Lanzarote
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