Alepocephalidae

Last updated

Slickheads
Temporal range: Ypresian–present
Alepocephalus tenebrosus.jpg
California slickhead, Alepocephalus tenebrosus
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Superorder: Alepocephali
Order: Alepocephaliformes
Family: Alepocephalidae
Bonaparte, 1846 [1]
Genera

see text

Synonyms
  • Alepocephalini Bonaparte 1846
  • Leptochilichthyidae Marshall 1966
  • Bathyprionidae Marshall 1966
  • Bathypriidae Marshall 1966
  • Bathylaconidae Parr 1948
  • Aulastomatomorphinae Fowler 1934

Slickheads, also known as nakedheads or smoothheads, are deep water fishes that belong to the family Alepocephalidae. They are most commonly found in the bathypelagic layer, which is approximately 3000m below the surface. [2] They get their name from the lack of scales on their heads. Similarly, the scientific name is from the Greek ᾰ̓- (a-, "not"); λέπος (lepos, "scale"); and κεφαλή (kephalē, "head"). It has about 22 genera with ca. 96 species. [3]

Contents

The only known fossil genus is Carpathichthys from the Early Oligocene of Poland, although an undescribed species of Bathyprion and several indeterminate taxa are also known from the same formation. Fossil otoliths are also known, dating to the Early Eocene. [4] [5]

Genera

Alepocephalidae contains the following extant genera:

Description

The following characteristics are generally shared by the Alepocephalidae family:

Their mouths consist of 80 to 100 razor-sharp teeth, being rather small and feeble. They are shaped in an eel-like elongation, with large eyes, gill rakers that range from moderate to long and numerous, and spineless fins. The single dorsal fin is located posterior to the midpoint of the body and there is no adipose dorsal fin present, there is a pectoral fin ranging from small to rudimentary located below the mid-flank, 4–18 rays, if pelvic fins are present, they exist in the abdominal region, with the origin being before the origin of the dorsal fin, they have forked caudal fins, and a tube above the base of pectoral fin that connects to a luminous gland on the shoulder girdle. They have no swim bladder. [3] Some species bear photophores. [6]

Their early life development is from large eggs directly into yolk sac juveniles that travel in deep waters. [7]

The largest species is the Yokozuna slickhead, Narcetes shonanmaruae, which is also the largest completely bathyal teleost fish. [8] [9]

Behaviour

It’s been thought that as the Alepocephalidae age, they move down layers in the ocean, (mesopelagic waters and bathypelagic waters) due to mostly adolescent Alepocephalidae being reported near the surface, although there have been sightings of juveniles only several meters above the sea floor, which could suggest that some species may travel between different depths throughout their life stages, a vertical shift. [10]

Vertical shift could occur due to predation being higher close to the sea floor and/or warmer water having a larger abundance of plankton. Juvenile slickheads may have a preference to travel upwards to take advantage of the lack of predation and abundance of food to increase survival rates. [11]

Distribution

The species of Alepocephalidae are widely distributed throughout the world and can be found in the Atlantic, Indian, and western Pacific oceans, [12] although they are difficult to find as they typically live around the bathypelagic layer of the ocean.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ephippidae</span> Family of fishes

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arctic lamprey</span> Species of jawless fish

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louvar</span> Species of fish

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ceratiidae</span> Family of fishes

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Argentiniformes</span> Order of fishes

The Argentiniformes is an order of marine ray-finned fish whose distinctness was recognized only fairly recently. In former times, they were included in the Osmeriformes as suborder Argentinoidei. That term refers only to the suborder of marine smelts and barreleyes in the classification used here, with the slickheads and allies being the Alepocephaloidei. These suborders were treated as superfamilies Argentinoidea and Alepocephaloidea, respectively, when the present group was still included in the Osmeriformes.

<i>Leptochilichthys</i> Genus of fishes

Leptochilichthys is a genus of fishes containing four species. Leptochilichthys is the only genus in the former family Leptochilichthyidae but is now included within the broader family Alepocephalidae.

Bathyprion, is a genus of deepwater marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Alepocephalidae, the slickheads. Its only extant species is Bathyprion danae, the fangtooth smooth-head. This species is found in the Atlantic and western Pacific Oceans.

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<i>Narcetes</i> Genus of fishes

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Alepocephaliformes is an order of marine deep-sea teleost fishes. It was previously classified as the suborder Alepocephaloidei of the order Argentiniformes.

<i>Regalecus russelii</i> Species of oarfish

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<i>Narcetes shonanmaruae</i> Species of fish

Narcetes shonanmaruae, the yokozuna slickhead, is a species of large marine ray-finned fish, a slickhead belonging to the family Alepocephalidae. At over 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) in length, it is the largest species of slickhead, and the largest species of bony fish entirely restricted to the deep ocean.

Leptoderma ospesca, the eastern eel-slickhead, is a species of slickhead found in the eastern-central Pacific Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antigoniinae</span> Subfamily of fishes

Antigoniinae is a subfamily of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Caproidae, the boarfishes. These fishes are found in the warmer oceans throughout the world.

References

  1. ↑ Van Der Laan, Richard; Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ronald (11 November 2014). "Family-group names of Recent fishes". Zootaxa. 3882 (1): 1–230. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1 . PMID   25543675.
  2. ↑ McEachran, J.; Fechhelm, J.D. (1998). Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico, Vol. 1: Myxiniformes to Gasterosteiformes. Austin: University of Texas Press. p. 381. ISBN   978-0-292-75206-1. OCLC   38468784 . Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  3. 1 2 ANGULO, ARTURO; BALDWIN, CAROLE C.; ROBERTSON, D. ROSS (2016-01-18). "<strong>A new species of <em>Leptoderma</em> Vaillant, 1886 (Osmeriformes: Alepocephalidae) from the Pacific coast of Central America</strong>". Zootaxa. 4066 (4): 493–500. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.4066.4.10 . hdl: 10669/73336 . ISSN   1175-5334. PMID   27395850.
  4. ↑ Kotlarczyk, Janusz; Jerzmańska, Anna; Świdnicka, Ewa; Wiszniowska, Teresa (2006). "A framework of ichthyofaunal ecostratigraphy of the Oligocene-Early Miocene strata of the Polish Outer Carpathian basin". Annales Societatis Geologorum Poloniae. 76 (1): 1–111.
  5. ↑ Near, Thomas J.; Thacker, Christine E. (2024). "Phylogenetic Classification of Living and Fossil Ray-Finned Fishes (Actinopterygii)". Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 65 (1): 3–302. doi: 10.3374/014.065.0101 . ISSN   0079-032X.
  6. ↑ Nelson, Joseph S., Terry C. Grande, and Mark V.H. Wilson (2016). Fishes of the World. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 173–174.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ↑ Moser, H. Geoffrey (1996). The Early Stages of Fishes in the California Current Region: Final Report. U.S. Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service, Pacific OCS Region.
  8. ↑ Fujiwara, Yoshihiro; Kawato, Masaru; Poulsen, Jan Yde; Ida, Hitoshi; Chikaraishi, Yoshito; Ohkouchi, Naohiko; Oguri, Kazumasa; Gotoh, Shinpei; Ozawa, Genki; Tanaka, Sho; Miya, Masaki (2021-01-25). "Discovery of a colossal slickhead (Alepocephaliformes: Alepocephalidae): an active-swimming top predator in the deep waters of Suruga Bay, Japan". Scientific Reports. 11 (1): 2490. Bibcode:2021NatSR..11.2490F. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-80203-6 . ISSN   2045-2322. PMC   7835233 . PMID   33495481.
  9. ↑ Fujiwara, Yoshihiro; Tsuchida, Shinji; Kawato, Masaru; Masuda, Kotohiro; Sakaguchi, Sakiko Orui; Sado, Tetsuya; Miya, Masaki; Yoshida, Takao (2022-07-01). "Detection of the Largest Deep-Sea-Endemic Teleost Fish at Depths of Over 2,000 m Through a Combination of eDNA Metabarcoding and Baited Camera Observations". Frontiers in Marine Science. 9. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2022.945758 . ISSN   2296-7745.
  10. ↑ Takami, Munehiro; Fukui, Atsushi (2010-08-12). "Larvae and juveniles of Leptoderma lubricum and L. retropinnum (Argentiformes: Alepocephalidae) collected from Suruga Bay, Japan". Ichthyological Research. 57 (4): 406–415. Bibcode:2010IchtR..57..406T. doi:10.1007/s10228-010-0176-0. ISSN   1341-8998. S2CID   24825738.
  11. ↑ Shiao, J. C.; Liu, E. Y.; Sui, T. D. (2016-01-29). "Up-and-down shift in residence depth of slickheads (Alepocephalidae) revealed by otolith stable oxygen isotopic composition". Journal of Fish Biology. 88 (3): 1265–1272. Bibcode:2016JFBio..88.1265S. doi:10.1111/jfb.12904. ISSN   0022-1112. PMID   26822590.
  12. ↑ ANGULO, ARTURO; BALDWIN, CAROLE C.; ROBERTSON, D. ROSS (2016-01-18). "<strong>A new species of <em>Leptoderma</em> Vaillant, 1886 (Osmeriformes: Alepocephalidae) from the Pacific coast of Central America</strong>". Zootaxa. 4066 (4): 493–500. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.4066.4.10 . hdl: 10669/73336 . ISSN   1175-5334. PMID   27395850.


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