Epigonidae

Epigonidae Temporal range: Early Eocene to present PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Bigeye, Epigonus pandionis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Acropomatiformes
Family:	Epigonidae Poey, 1861 [1]
Genera [2]
See text

Not to be confused with Apogonidae.

Epigonidae, the deepwater cardinalfishes, are a family of acropomatiform ray-finned fishes. The family includes about 43 species. ^[3] Despite their name, they are not closely related to the true cardinalfishes of the family Apogonidae.

They are small fishes: the largest, Epigonus telescopus , reaches 75 cm (30 in) in length, ^[4] and most grow to no more than 20 cm (7.9 in) or so.

They are found in temperate and tropical oceans throughout the world. They are bathydemersal fishes (inhabiting deep waters close to the sea bed) and have been found at depths of 3,000 m (9,800 ft). ^[5]

Fossil epigonid skeletons, tentatively assigned to Epigonus , are known from the earliest Eocene-aged Danata Formation of Turkmenistan. ^[6]

Timeline

^[7]

Genera

The following genera are included in the family: ^[8]

• Brephostoma Alcock, 1889
• Epigonus Rafinesque, 1810
• Florenciella Mead & de Falla, 1965
• Microichthys Rüppell, 1852
• Rosenblattia Mead & de Falla, 1965
• Sphyraenops Gill, 1861

References

1. Richard van der Laan; William N. Eschmeyer & Ronald Fricke (2014). "Family-group names of Recent fishes". Zootaxa. 3882 (2): 001–230. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1 . PMID   25543675.
2. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Family Epigonidae". FishBase . April 2013 version.
3. J. S. Nelson; T. C. Grande; M. V. H. Wilson (2016). Fishes of the World (5th ed.). Wiley. p. 435. ISBN   978-1-118-34233-6. Archived from the original on 2022-06-01. Retrieved 2020-03-18.
4. John E. McCosker & Douglas J. Long (1997). "A new species of the deepwater cardinalfish Epigonus (Perciformes: Epigonidae) from the Galápagos Islands". Ichthyological Research. 44 (2): 125–129. Bibcode:1997IchtR..44..125M. doi:10.1007/BF02678691. S2CID   29488053.
5. John D. McEachran & Janice D. Fechhelm (1998). Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico, Volume 2: Scorpaeniformes to Tetraodontiformes. University of Texas Press. pp. 235–242. ISBN   0292706340.
6. Bannikov, A. F. (2000). "New Data on Late Paleocene Marine Percoids (Perciformes) of Turkmenistan" (PDF). Journal of Ichthyology. 40 (8): 564–570.
7. Sepkoski, Jack (2002). "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera". Bulletins of American Paleontology. 364. Seposki Online: 560. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
8. Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Epigonidae". Catalog of Fishes . California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 19 November 2024.