Mojarra

For other uses, see Mojarra (disambiguation).
Chicawa
Gerres equulus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Gerreidae
Bleeker, 1859
Genera

See text.

The mojarras are a family, Gerreidae, of fishes in the order Perciformes. The family includes about 53 species.

Mojarras are a common prey and bait fish in many parts of the Caribbean, including the South American coast and Caribbean islands as well as the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic coast of North America.[1] These species tend to be difficult to identify in the field and often require microscopic examination. Most species exhibit a schooling behavior and tend to exploit the shallow water refugia associated with coastal areas presumably to avoid large-bodied predators, such as the lemon shark.[2]

Mojarra is also commonly used in Latin American countries as a name for various species of the cichlid family, including tilapia.

Genera

The seven genera currently assigned to this family are:[3][4]

Timeline

Quaternary Neogene Paleogene Holocene Pleist. Miocene Oligocene Eocene Paleocene Pentaprion Gerres Quaternary Neogene Paleogene Holocene Pleist. Miocene Oligocene Eocene Paleocene

See also

References

  1. ↑ Northeast Gulf Science Vol. 5 No. 1 1981
  2. ↑ Bright, Michael (2000). The private life of sharks : the truth behind the myth. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. ISBN 0-8117-2875-7.
  3. ↑ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2014). "Gerreidae" in FishBase. February 2014 version.
  4. 1 2 Vergara-Solana, F.J., García-Rodriguez, F.J., Tavera, J.J., De Luna, E. & De La Cruz-Agüero, J. (2014): Molecular and morphometric systematics of Diapterus (Perciformes, Gerreidae). Zoologica Scripta, 43 (4): 338–350.
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