The Myctophiformes are an order of ray-finned fishes consisting of two families of deep-sea marine fish, most notably the highly abundant lanternfishes (Myctophidae). The blackchins (Neoscopelidae) contain six species in three genera, while the bulk of the family belongs to the Myctophidae, with over 30 genera and some 252 species.
The beardfishes consist of a single extant genus, Polymixia, of deep-sea marine ray-finned fish named for their pair of long hyoid barbels. They are classified in their own order Polymixiiformes. But as Nelson says, "few groups have been shifted back and forth as frequently as this one, and they were recently added to Paracanthoptergii". For instance, they have previously been classified as belonging to the Beryciformes, and are presently considered either paracanthopterygians or the sister group to acanthopterygians. They are of little economic importance.
The Congridae are the family of conger and garden eels. Congers are valuable and often large food fishes, while garden eels live in colonies, all protruding from the sea floor after the manner of plants in a garden. The family includes over 220 species in 32 genera.
Lanternfish are small mesopelagic fish of the large family Myctophidae. One of two families in the order Myctophiformes, the Myctophidae are represented by 246 species in 33 genera, and are found in oceans worldwide. Lanternfishes are aptly named after their conspicuous use of bioluminescence. Their sister family, the Neoscopelidae, are much fewer in number but superficially very similar; at least one neoscopelid shares the common name "lanternfish": the large-scaled lantern fish, Neoscopelus macrolepidotus.
The Carangidae are a family of ray-finned fish that includes the jacks, pompanos, jack mackerels, runners, trevallies, and scads. It is the largest of the six families included within the order Carangiformes. Some authorities classify it as the only family within that order but molecular and anatomical studies indicate that there is a close relationship between this family and the five former Perciform families which make up the Carangiformes.
Archaeus is an extinct genus of marine jackfish from the Paleogene of Europe, where it inhabited the former Tethys Ocean. The oldest species, A. oblongus is from the early Ypresian epoch of Eocene Turkmenistan, and the last species, A. glarisianus and A. solus, are from the early to middle Rupelian, of the Matt Formation of Canton Glarus, Switzerland and the Pshekha Formation of North Caucasus, Russia.
The deep-sea smelts are any members of the family Bathylagidae, a distinct group of marine smelts.
Apateodus is a genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish which was described by Woodward in 1901. It was a relative of modern lizardfish and lancetfish in the order Aulopiformes, and one of a number of prominent nektonic aulopiforms of Cretaceous marine ecosystems.
The Heterenchelyidae or mud eels are a small family of eels native to the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and eastern Pacific.
Eosaurichthys is an extinct genus, or potentially subgenus, of marine saurichthyid ray-finned fish that lived during the late Permian epoch to potentially the Early Triassic epoch (Olenekian). It is one of the earliest saurichthyid genera known from the fossil record. If E. madagascariensis is a member of this genus, then it appears to have survived the Permian-Triassic extinction event.
Eophycis is an extinct genus of prehistoric morid gadiform fish that lived during the early Oligocene epoch in the Paratethys Sea, where it is known from both the eastern and western regions. It represents the oldest fossil record of the Moridae.
Eokrefftia is an extinct genus of lanternfish that inhabited the seas around Europe and Australia throughout the Paleogene. Known only from its distinctive fossilized otoliths, it appears to be one of the earliest definitive fossil members of the lanternfish lineage. It may belong to the extinct subfamily Eomyctophinae.
Acentrophorus is an extinct genus of prehistoric freshwater and marine ray-finned fish from the Roadian to the Wuchiapingian of England, Germany (Kupferschiefer), Italy and Russia. There may also be a Triassic occurrence in Australia.
Ampheristus is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish. It was a basal or stem member of the family Ophidiidae, which contains modern cusk-eels. Fossils are known from worldwide from the Late Cretaceous to the late Paleogene, making it a rather successful survivor of the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event.
Bathylagus is a genus of deep-sea smelts, some species of which are noted for having stylophthalmine larvae.
Dapalis is an extinct genus of prehistoric glassfish known from the Middle Eocene to the Early Miocene. It is known from both freshwater and estuarine habitats of much of mainland Europe.
Palimphyes is an extinct genus of marine ray-finned fish known from the Paleogene period. It was a euzaphlegid, an extinct family of scombroid fish related to the escolars and snake mackerels.
Pythonichthys is a genus of eels of the family Heterenchelyidae that occur in tropical waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean off of Panama and in the Atlantic Ocean near the Caribbean Sea and the west coast of Africa. It contains the following described species:
This list of fossil fish research presented in 2022 is a list of new fossil taxa of jawless vertebrates, placoderms, cartilaginous fishes, bony fishes, and other fishes that were described during the year, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleoichthyology that occurred in 2022.
Anenchelum is an extinct genus of cutlassfish known from the early Eocene to the late Miocene. Several species are known that inhabited the northwestern Tethys and later Paratethys region, centered around east-central Europe and west Asia. This genus was synonymized with the extant Lepidopus for a time before being revived as a distinct genus in 1995.
