Ambassidae

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Asiatic glassfishes
Temporal range: Santonian to present
Parambassis ranga 2.jpg
Indian glassy fish, Parambassis ranga
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Clade: Ovalentaria
Family: Ambassidae
Klunzinger, 1870
Genera [1]

Ambassis
Chanda
Dapalis
Denariusa
Gymnochanda
Kapurdia
Paradoxodacna
Parambassis
Pseudambassis
Tetracentrum

The Asiatic glassfishes are a family, the Ambassidae, of freshwater and marine ray-finned fishes that were formerly classified in the order Perciformes, but most authorities consider this order to be paraphyletic and that the Ambassidae are of uncertain affinities, incertae sedis , but within the subseries Ovalentaria. [2] The species in the family are native to Asia, Oceania, the Indian Ocean, and the western Pacific Ocean. The family includes eight genera and about 51 species. [3] Some species are known as perchlets.

The largest species reaches a maximum size around 26 cm (10 in). Many of the species are noted for their transparent or semitransparent bodies. [4]

Several species are used as aquarium fish, noted for their transparent bodies. The Indian glassy fish (Parambassis ranga) is transparent, but showier specimens that had been injected with artificial coloring were sold as novelty pets in the 1990s. Since then, these "painted fish" have become much less popular, with more fishkeepers seeking naturally pigmented specimens. [5]

Dapalis, a fossil ambassid that was extremely common throughout Europe during the mid-Cenozoic Dapalis macrurus 2.jpg
Dapalis , a fossil ambassid that was extremely common throughout Europe during the mid-Cenozoic

One of the oldest known fossil members of the family is Dapalis , which appears to be a stem group-glassfish with fossil otoliths known as far back as the Late Cretaceous. [6] [7] Full-body fossils of Dapalis become particularly common in the Late Oligocene and Early Miocene of Europe. The fossil genus Kapurdia is known from the early Eocene of Rajasthan, India. [8]

Naming history

The family has also been called Chandidae, and some sources continue to use the name. Because Ambassidae was used first, in 1870, it has precedence over Chandidae, which was first used in 1905. [9]

Related Research Articles

The Percopsiformes are a small order of freshwater teleost fishes measuring less than 20 cm in length, comprising the trout-perch and its allies. It contains just ten extant species, grouped into seven genera and three families. Five of these genera are monotypic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arowana</span> Family of fish

Arowanas are freshwater bony fish of the subfamily Osteoglossinae, also known as bony tongues. In this family of fish, the head is bony and the elongated body is covered by large, heavy scales, with a mosaic pattern of canals. The dorsal and anal fins have soft rays and are long based, while the pectoral and ventral fins are small. The name "bonytongues" is derived from a toothed bone on the floor of the mouth, the "tongue", equipped with teeth that bite against teeth on the roof of the mouth. The arowana is a facultative air breather and can obtain oxygen from air by sucking it into its swim bladder, which is lined with capillaries like lung tissue.

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

The members of the family Percichthyidae are known as the temperate perches. They belong to the order Perciformes, the perch-like fishes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Batrachoididae</span> Family of ray-finned fishes

Batrachoididae is the only family in the ray-finned fish order Batrachoidiformes. Members of this family are usually called toadfish or frogfish: both the English common name and scientific name refer to their toad-like appearance.

<i>Parambassis ranga</i> Species of ray-finned fish

Parambassis ranga, commonly known as the Indian glassy fish, Indian glassy perch, or Indian X-ray fish, is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish in the Asiatic glassfish family Ambassidae. It is native to an area of South Asia from Pakistan to Vietnam, Malaysia and Bangladesh.

<i>Parambassis</i> Genus of ray-finned fishes

Parambassis is a genus of freshwater fish in the Asiatic glassfish family Ambassidae of order Perciformes. The type species is the Iridescent glassy perchlet. These fishes originate mostly from Southeast Asia, but the species range across the Indomalayan and Australasian realms, from Pakistan, China and India south through Indonesia, New Guinea and Australia. Although primiarly found in fresh water, a few species can also be seen in brackish water. The Parambassis species range in maximum size from 4–24 cm (1.5–9.5 in), but they are similar in appearance, with a lozenge-shaped form, typical perciform fins, and semitransparent or transparent body. Several of the species are common food fish in local markets, and some are kept as aquarium fish.

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

The Anguillidae are a family of ray-finned fish that contains the freshwater eels. All the extant species and six subspecies in this family are in the genus Anguilla, and are elongated fish of snake-like bodies, with long dorsal, caudal and anal fins forming a continuous fringe. They are catadromous, spending their adult lives in freshwater, but migrating to the ocean to spawn.

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

The family Notopteridae contains 10 species of osteoglossiform (bony-tongued) fishes, commonly known as featherbacks and knifefishes. These fishes live in freshwater or brackish environments in Africa and West South East and Southeast Asia.

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

The Asian whiting is a species inshore marine fish in the smelt whiting family, Sillaginidae, distributed along the Asian coastline from the Gulf of Thailand to Taiwan. The Asian whiting's appearance is very similar to other closely related species in the genus Sillago, with swim bladder morphology and ray counts of fins the most reliable identifying features. The species inhabits slightly deeper water than many of the sillaginid species its distribution overlaps, forming an important part of the whiting fishery in the countries within its range.

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

The Indian threadfish, also known as the Indian threadfin, diamond trevally, mirror fish or plumed trevally, is a large species of coastal marine fish of the jack family, Carangidae. The species is widespread in the waters of the tropical Indo-West Pacific Ocean, ranging from east Africa to India, Asia, Indonesia and Australia. Adult fish tend to inhabit coastal waters over reefs down to 100 m in depth, while juveniles inhabit a variety of environments including estuaries and seagrass beds. The Indian threadfish is similar to the other two species in the genus Alectis, with a slight concavity in the profile of the head the most obvious distinguishing feature. It is a large species, growing to 165 cm and 25 kg in weight. The species is carnivorous, consuming fishes, cephalopods and crustaceans. The Indian threadfish is of minor commercial importance, and has been the subject of aquaculture in Singapore.

<i>Alectis</i> Genus of fish

Alectis is a genus of fish in the family Carangidae containing three extant species, all of which are large marine fishes. They are commonly known as threadfish, diamond trevallies or pompanos, although they have no close affiliation with the true pompano genus.

<i>Caranx</i> Genus of fishes

Caranx is a genus of tropical to subtropical marine fishes in the jack family Carangidae, commonly known as jacks, trevallies and kingfishes. They are moderate- to large-sized, deep-bodied fishes which are distinguished from other carangid genera by specific gill raker, fin ray and dentition characteristics. The genus is represented in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans, inhabiting both inshore and offshore regions, ranging from estuaries and bays to deep reefs and offshore islands. All species are powerful predators, taking a variety of fish, crustaceans and cephalopods, while they in turn are prey to larger pelagic fishes and sharks. A number of fish in the genus have a reputation as powerful gamefish and are highly sought by anglers. They often make up high amounts of the catch in various fisheries, but are generally considered poor to fair table fishes.

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

Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes, which consists of eight suborders, 20 families, 164 genera, and about 1000 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage and are usually predators.

<i>Platax</i> Genus of fishes

Platax is a genus of Indo-Pacific, reef-associated fish belonging to the family Ephippidae. There are currently five known extant species generally accepted to belong to the genus. They are one of the fish taxa commonly known as "batfish".

<i>Dapalis</i> Extinct genus of fishes

Dapalis is an extinct genus of prehistoric glassfish known from the Late Cretaceous to the Early Miocene. It is known from both freshwater and marine habitats of India, Australia, New Zealand, and much of mainland Europe.

<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>Gymnothorax polyuranodon</i> Species of fish

Gymnothorax polyuranodon, commonly known as the freshwater moray, is a species of moray eel that is native to the Indo-Pacific region, including Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the northern coastline of Australia, and various islands in the western Pacific. Other common names include the many-toothed moray, spotted freshwater moray, blackspotted moray, freshwater leopard moray, and freshwater tiger moray.

<i>Drombus</i> Genus of fishes

Drombus is a genus of gobies native to fresh, brackish and marine waters of the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arapaimidae</span> Subfamily of ray-finned fishes

Arapaimidae is a family of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Osteoglossidae. It includes the South American arapaimas of the Amazon and Essequibo basins and the African arowana from the watersheds of the Sahelo-Sudanese region, Senegal, Gambia, and parts of Eastern Africa. This family is sometimes treated as the subfamily Arapaiminae. A commonly used synonym is Heterotidinae, but according to the ICZN, Arapaimidae has priority.

<i>Ambassis macleayi</i> Species of fish

Ambassis macleayi, commonly known as Macleay's glassfish, Macleay's glass perchlet, Macleay's perchlet, reticulated glassfish, reticulated perchlet, or network perchlet, is a species of freshwater fish in the family Ambassidae. It is native to northern Australia and the trans-Fly River region of New Guinea. It is a fish with a vertically flat, narrow body and a standard length generally between 35 and 45 mm, with large specimens reaching 77 mm (3.0 in) long. It generally eats water fleas and other small invertebrates. This fish is considered to be a least-concern species according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), although it could suffer from habitat degradation due to feral pigs and invasive water plants such as the water hyacinth. The fish is suitable for aquarium use in tanks containing other non-aggressive species.

References

  1. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Family Ambassidae". FishBase . December 2012 version.
  2. J. S. Nelson; T. C. Grande; M. V. H. Wilson (2016). Fishes of the World (5th ed.). Wiley. p. 752. ISBN   978-1-118-34233-6. Archived from the original on 2019-04-08. Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  3. "Fish Identification". www.fishbase.se. Retrieved 2018-08-30.
  4. "Fish Identification: Find family". www.fishbase.se. Retrieved 2018-08-30.
  5. Dawes, J. Complete Encyclopedia of the Freshwater Aquarium. Firefly Books. 2001. page 289.
  6. Ghazali, Siti Zafirah; Lavoué, Sébastien; Sukmono, Tedjo; Habib, Ahasan; Tan, Min Pau; Nor, Siti Azizah Mohd (2023). "Cenozoic colonisation of the Indian Ocean region by the Australian freshwater-originating glassperch family Ambassidae (Teleostei)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 186: 107832. Bibcode:2023MolPE.18607832G. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2023.107832. ISSN   1055-7903. PMID   37263456.
  7. Nolf, Dick (2003). "Fish otoliths from the Santonian of the Pyrenean faunal province, and an overview of all otolith- documented North Atlantic Late Cretaceous teleosts". Bulletin de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique - Bulletin van het Koninklijk Belgisch Instituut voor Natuurwetenschappen. 73: 155–173.
  8. India, Zoological Society of (1969). Journal of the Zoological Society of India. The Society.
  9. Morgan, D. L. (2010). Fishes of the King Edward River in the Kimberley region, Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum 25: 351–68.