Ophidiiformes is an order of ray-finned fish that includes the cusk-eels, pearlfishes, viviparous brotulas, and others. Members of this order have small heads and long slender bodies. They have either smooth scales or no scales, a long dorsal fin and an anal fin that typically runs into the caudal fin. They mostly come from the tropics and subtropics, and live in both freshwater and marine habitats, including abyssal depths. They have adopted a range of feeding methods and lifestyles, including parasitism. The majority are egg-laying, but some are viviparous.
Captain Frederick Wollaston Hutton was an English-New Zealand scientist who applied the theory of natural selection to explain the origins and nature of the natural history of New Zealand. An army officer in early life, he then had an academic career in geology and biology. He became one of the most able and prolific nineteenth century naturalists of New Zealand.
The grey brotula or orange cuskeel is a rare species of viviparous brotula found around northern New Zealand. It inhabits rocky areas at 30–178 m depth.
The viviparous brotulas form a family, the Bythitidae, of ophidiiform fishes. They are known as viviparous brotulas as they generally bear live young, although there are indications that some species do not. They are generally infrequently seen, somewhat tadpole-like in overall shape and mostly about 5–10 cm (2–4 in) in length, but some species grow far larger and may surpass 60 cm (2 ft).
Saccogaster is a genus of viviparous brotulas. They are found in the western Atlantic and Indo-Pacific.
The worm pearlfish is an eel-like fish in the family Carapidae.
Acarobythites larsonae, or Larson's cusk, is a species of viviparous brotula fish only known from reefs off the coast of the Northern Territory, Australia. This species grows to a length of 2.5 centimetres (0.98 in) SL. This species is the only known member of genus Acarobythites. The specific name and common name both honour the curator of fishes at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in Darwin, Northern Territory, Helen Larson who sent speciemsn of fish, especially Ophidiiformes, to the describer Yoshiko Machida for him to study.
Bidenichthys is a genus of viviparous brotulas.
Lapitaichthys frickei is a species of viviparous brotula found on reefs around New Caledonia. This species grows to a length of 4.9 centimetres (1.9 in) SL. This species is the only known member of its genus. The specific name refers to the ichthyologist Ronald Fricke of the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart while the generic name is derived from a mishearing of the local word xaapeta which means "to dig a hole" and the Greek ichthys which means "fish".
Onuxodon is an Indo-Pacific genus of pearlfishes from the family Carapidae. The generic name is derived from the Greek onyx meaning "claw" and odon meaning "tooth", referring to the sharp fang like teeth of Onuxodon parvibrachium. Species in this genus are distributed from South Africa to Hawaii. They live commensally with molluscs. The three currently recognized species are:
The faceless cusk is a genus of cusk-eel found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans at depths from 3,935 to 5,100 m. This species grows to 46.5 cm (18.3 in) in standard length.
Bidenichthys capensis, the freetail brotula, is an uncommon South African fish of the family Bythitidae, and one of three species, and the type species, of the genus Bidenichthys. The species is found in intertidal zones and rocky tidepools ranging from East London to the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. It grows up to 90 mm long TL.
Brotulotaenia brevicauda is a benthopelagic marine fish species in the family Ophidiidae. This totally black fish is usually found in the Atlantic Ocean but it has also been reported in the Indian. B. brevicauda lives in deep water and grows up to 32 cm in length. It is also occasionally known as the Short-tail cusk-eel.
Grammonus nagaredai, or the Nagareda's viviparous brotula, is a species of viviparous brotula found in the Hawaiian Islands where it occurs at depths of around 5 metres (16 ft) to 10 metres (33 ft).
Brotula barbata, commonly known as the goatsbeard brotula, is a species of cusk-eel in the genus Brotula. It lives in the Indo-Pacific, in depths of up to 300 meters. It is dark brown with a submarginal black band and narrow white border on the dorsal and anal fins versus greenish to orange brown with orange-bordered dorsal and anal fins, and it grows up to be around 100 centimeters. It has a carnivorous diet, and it is oviparous.
Brosmophycinae is a subfamily of the viviparous brotulas. They are divided from the subfamily Bythitinae by having the dorsal fin, caudal fin and anal fin all separate whereas they are joined in the Bythitinae. It is divided into the tribes Dinematichthyini and Brosmophycini, with the first having hardened genital claspers and the second soft genital claspers. A review in 2016 elevated the Dinematichthyini to the status of a family the Dinematichthyidae.
Brosmophycini is a tribe of viviparous brotula, one of two tribes in the subfamily Brosmophycinae. They are distinguished from the other brosmophycin tribe, the Dinematichthyini, by having a male intromittent organ which has no ossified parts, a scale-covered body and well developed gill rakers.
Bythitinae is a subfamily of viviparous brotulas, one of the two subfamilies in the family Bythitidae. This subfamily is characterised by having the dorsal, caudal and anal fins combined. They are mostly found in temperate to tropical seas, from reefs to the benthopelagic zone, but some species from the North Atlantic Ocean occur in into Arctic waters.
Bythitoidei is a suborder of the order Ophidiiformes, the cusk eels. They are distinguished from the other Ophidiform suborder, the Ophidioidei, by being largely viviparous.
Onuxodon fowleri is a species of pearlfish first described by Smith, 1955. Onuxodon fowleri is part of the genus Onuxodon and the subfamily Carapinae. No subspecies are listed in the Catalog of Life.
