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.
Pink salmon or humpback salmon is a species of euryhaline ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the type species of the genus Onchorhynchus, and is the smallest and most abundant of the seven officially recognized species of salmon. The species' scientific name is based on the Russian common name for this species gorbúša (горбуша), which literally means humpie.
Pearlfish are marine fish in the ray-finned fish family Carapidae. Pearlfishes inhabit the tropical waters of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans at depths to 2,000 m (6,600 ft), along oceanic shelves and slopes. They are slender, elongated fish with no scales, translucent bodies, and dorsal fin rays which are shorter than their anal fin rays. Adults of most species live symbiotically inside various invertebrate hosts, and some live parasitically inside sea cucumbers. The larvae are free living.
The pallid pearlfish, Pyramodon ventralis, is a pearlfish of the family Carapidae, found in the Indo-western Pacific Ocean at depths between 100 and 400 m. Its length is between 25 and 30 cm.
Rendahl's messmate is a pearlfish of the family Carapidae, found in the southwest Pacific Ocean around Australia and New Zealand at depths to 60 metres (200 ft). Its length is between 10 and 12 centimetres .The larvae has a long filament on its head which bears some resemblance to a siphonophore. These fish live within sponges. The specific name honours the Swedish naturalist and artist Hialmar Rendahl who collected the specimens in the Tasman Sea which were used by Gilbert Percy Whitley to describe this species.
Culcita novaeguineae is a species of starfish. It has short arms and an inflated appearance and resembles a pentagonal pincushion. It is variable in colour and can be found in tropical warm waters in the Indo-Pacific.
Coral reef fish are fish which live amongst or in close relation to coral reefs. Coral reefs form complex ecosystems with tremendous biodiversity. Among the myriad inhabitants, the fish stand out as colourful and interesting to watch. Hundreds of species can exist in a small area of a healthy reef, many of them hidden or well camouflaged. Reef fish have developed many ingenious specialisations adapted to survival on the reefs.
The worm pearlfish is an eel-like fish in the family Carapidae.
The star pearlfish, Carapus mourlani, is a species of slender, ray-finned fish in the family Carapidae. It normally lives inside a starfish or a sea cucumber.
Echiodon is a genus of pearlfishes, with these currently recognized species:
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:
Snyderidia canina is a species of pearlfish found in all tropical waters but those of the eastern Pacific Ocean, depths from 110 to 1,762 m. This species grows to a length of 26.8 cm (10.6 in). This fish is the only known species in its genus which was named in honour of the ichthyologist John Otterbein Snyder (1867-1943) for the assistance he lent to Charles Henry Gilbert on the cruise to Hawaii on which the type specimen was collected.
Tetragondacnus spilotus is a species of pearlfish found in the Pacific waters off of Sumatra where it has been recovered at a depth of just over 500 metres (1,600 ft). This species is the only known member of its genus.
The pinhead pearlfish, Encheliophis boraborensis, is a species of slender, ray-finned fish in the family Carapidae found in the tropical Indo-Pacific Ocean; it normally lives inside the body cavity of a sea cucumber such as the pineapple sea cucumber or the leopard sea cucumber.
The silver pearlfish, Encheliophis homei, is a species of eel-like fish in the family Carapidae. This pearlfish lives inside the coelom of sea cucumbers such as Bohadschia argus, Thelenota ananas , and Stichopus chloronotus. It is native to tropical and subtropical parts of the Indo-Pacific Ocean.
Carapinae is a subfamily of pearlfishes, of the family Carapidae. The subfamily consists of four genera:
Echiodon anchipterus, the Closefin pearlfish, is a fish species described by Jeffrey T. Williams in 1984. Echiodon anchipterus is part of the genus Echiodon and the subfamily Carapinae. No subspecies are listed in the Catalog of Life.
Carapus acus is a species of bony fish in the family Carapidae, the pearlfishes, and is native to the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It lives as a commensal in association with a sea cucumber, spending the day inside its host and emerging at night to feed.
Parastichopus regalis, also known as the royal sea cucumber, is a species of sea cucumber in the family Stichopodidae.
Echiodon drummondii, sometimes called Drummond's echiodon or Drummond's pearlfish, and in Ireland simply called the pearlfish, is a species of fish in the family Carapidae (pearlfish).
