| Leiognathidae | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Eubleekeria splendens | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Perciformes |
| Suborder: | Percoidei |
| Family: | Leiognathidae T. N. Gill, 1893 [2] |
| Genera | |
see text | |
Leiognathidae, the ponyfishes, slipmouths or slimys / slimies, are a small family of fishes in the order Perciformes. [3] They inhabit marine and brackish waters in the Indian and West Pacific Oceans. They can be used in the preparation of bagoong .
Ponyfishes are small and laterally compressed in shape, with a bland, silvery colouration. They are distinguished by highly extensible mouths, and the presence of a mechanism for locking the spines in the dorsal and anal fins. They also possess a highly integrated light organ in their throats that houses symbiotic bioluminescent bacteria that project light through the animal's underside. [4] [5] [6] Typically, the harbored bacterium is only Photobacterium leiognathi, but in the two ponyfish species Photopectoralis panayensis and Photopectoralis bindus, Photobacterium mandapamensis is also present. [7] Two of the most widely studied uses for luminescence in ponyfish are camouflage by ventral counterillumination [8] [9] and species-specific sexual dimorphism. [5] [6] [10] [11]
Although ponyfish seem quite ordinary and morphologically similar, their light organ systems are highly variable across species and often between sexes. [10] [11]
Leiognathidae is classified within the suborder Percoideiby the 5th edition of Fishes of the World , but they are placed in an unnamed clade which sits outside the superfamily Percoidea. This clade contains 7 families which appear to have some relationship to Acanthuroidei, Monodactylidae, and Priacanthidae. [12] Other authorities have paced the family in the order Chaetodontiformes alongside the family Chaetodontidae. [13]
The following genera are classified within the Leiognathidae: [3] [14]
Acropomatidae is a family of fish in the order Perciformes, commonly known as lanternbellies. Acropoma species are notable for having light-emitting organs along their undersides. They are found in all temperate and tropical oceans, usually at depths of several hundred meters. There are about 32 species in as many as 9 genera, although some authorities recognise fewer genera than Fishbase does.
Haemulidae is a family of fishes in the order Perciformes known commonly as grunts. It is made up of the two subfamilies Haemulinae (grunters) and Plectorhynchinae (sweetlips), which in turn contain about 133 species in 19 genera. These fish are found in tropical fresh, brackish, and salt waters around the world. They are bottom-feeding predators, and named for the ability of Haemulinae to produce sound by grinding their teeth. They also engage in mutualistic relationship with cleaner gobies of genus Elacatinus, allowing them to feed on ectoparasites on their bodies.
Latridae commonly called trumpeters, is a family of marine ray-finned fish. They are found in temperate seas in the Southern Hemisphere. The classification of the species within the Latridae and the related Cheilodactylidae is unclear.They are fished commercially and for sport.
Herichthys is a small genus of cichlid fishes. Most are endemic to Mexico, but H. cyanoguttatus is also found in southern Texas, and has been introduced to central Texas and Florida. In 2015, the genus was split, and 7 species moved into Nosferatu.
Caranginae is a subfamily of ray-finned fish from the family Carangidae which consists of twenty genera and 103 species.
Milyeringa is a genus of blind cavefish from the Cape Range and Barrow Island, northwestern Australia. Although traditionally considered to belong to the family Eleotridae, studies show that they represent a distinct and far-separated lineage together with the Typhleotris cavefish from Madagascar, leading some to move them to their own family, Milyeringidae. The generic name is taken from Milyering which is 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Vlamingh Head in the North West Cape of Western Australia, the type locality for Milyeringa veritas.
Loaches are fish of the superfamily Cobitoidea. They are freshwater, benthic (bottom-dwelling) fish found in rivers and creeks throughout Eurasia and northern Africa. Loaches are among the most diverse groups of fish; the 1249 known species of Cobitoidea comprise about 107 genera divided among 9 families.
Secutor hanedai is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a ponyfish from the family Leiognathidae. It isnative to the Indian and Pacific ocean waters around the countries of Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. It can be found in marine and brackish waters. This species can reach a length of 7.1 centimetres (2.8 in) SL. The specific name honours Yata Haneda (1907-1995), a Japanese biologist who studied bioluminescent organisms, including ponyfishes.
Equulites is a genus of ponyfishes native to the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA published in 2017 has suggested that Equulites elongates is in fact a species group made up of three species Equulites aethopos, Equulites elongates and Equulites popei.
Eubleekeria is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes, ponyfishes from the family Leiognathidae which are native to the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean.
Leiognathus is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes, ponyfishes from the family Leiognathidae. They are native to the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean. They are sometimes known as silverbellies.
Nuchequula is a genus of ponyfishes native to the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean.
Photobacterium leiognathi is a species of Gram-negative bacteria. The species is bioluminescent and a symbiont of ponyfish.
Bioluminescent bacteria are light-producing bacteria that are predominantly present in sea water, marine sediments, the surface of decomposing fish and in the gut of marine animals. While not as common, bacterial bioluminescence is also found in terrestrial and freshwater bacteria. These bacteria may be free living or in symbiosis with animals such as the Hawaiian Bobtail squid or terrestrial nematodes. The host organisms provide these bacteria a safe home and sufficient nutrition. In exchange, the hosts use the light produced by the bacteria for camouflage, prey and/or mate attraction. Bioluminescent bacteria have evolved symbiotic relationships with other organisms in which both participants benefit close to equally. Another possible reason bacteria use luminescence reaction is for quorum sensing, an ability to regulate gene expression in response to bacterial cell density.
Leiognathus longispinis, commonly known as the longspine- or Smithurst's ponyfish, is a fish of brackish and marine waters found in the Indian and western Pacific Oceans, from India through Malaysia and Indonesia south to northern Australia and east to the Philippines and Fiji It was described in 1835 by French Zoologist Achille Valenciennes from a specimen caught off Waigeo island in Irian Jaya in New Guinea. In 1886 Ramsay and Ogilby described what turned out to the same species from Hood Lagoon in Papua New Guinea, naming it Leiognathus smithursti. In 2008, ichthyologists Prosanta Chakrabarty and John S. Sparks resurrected the genus Aurigequula and placed L. longispinis and L. fasciatus in it, on the basis of a horizontal row of yellow markings on their flanks and elongated second spine of the dorsal fin. However, a molecular study showed that the genus Leiognathus was nested within Aurigequula, and hence the genera were merged once more. Fishbase places this species in Leiognathus while retaining the striped ponyfish in the monotypic Aurigequula.
Photolateralis stercorarius, the oblong slipmouth, is a marine ray-finned fish, a ponyfish from the family Leiognathidae. It has been recorded from Indonesia, Philippines, New Guinea, Guam and Tonga in the western Pacific Ocean. It lives on inner reef flats and in silt-laden inshore waters at depths greater than 20 metres (66 ft). It attains a maximum recorded total length of 10.2 centimetres (4.0 in). It was first formally described in 1907 as known as Leiognathus stercorarius by the American ichthyologists Barton Warren Evermann (1853-1932) and Alvin Seale (1871-1958) with the type locality given as Bulan, Sorsogon in the Philippines. It was more recently named as Equulites stercorarius, but was re-evaluated in 2015 as part of Photolateralis. It is the type species of the genus Photolateralis.
Equulites elongatus, the slender ponyfish, also called the elongate ponyfish, elongate slimy or elongated slipmouth, is a marine fish of the family Leiognathidae native to the western Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Photolateralis is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes, ponyfish from the family Leiognathidae. This genus is unique among ponyfishes in possessing a translucent mid-lateral flank stripe which, depending on the species, may be either a composite stripe of numerous independent translucent windows or a continuous translucent lateral stripe.
Equulites klunzingeri, or Klunzinger's ponyfish, is a marine, demersal species of ponyfish from the family Leiognathidae which was originally found only in the Red Sea. It is colonizing the Mediterranean as part of the Lessepsian migration through the Suez Canal.
The spottedtail morwong is a species of marine ray-finned fish, traditionally regarded as belonging to the family Cheilodactylidae, the members of which are commonly known as morwongs. It is found in the northwest Pacific Ocean.