Lutjaninae is a subfamily of marine ray-finned fishes, one of four subfamilies classified within the familyLutjanidae, the snappers. It contains the true snappers and the fusiliers, the latter of which were previously placed in the family Caesionidae.[2]
A taxonomic study of snappers within the subfamily Lutjaninae in the tropical western Atlantic Ocean indicated that the monotypic genera Ocyurus and Rhomboplites sit within the genus Lutjanus.[6]
This family has a global distribution, with Lutjanus snappers being found in both the Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific. Meanwhile, fusiliers are restricted to the Indo-Pacific region.[9] Fusiliers are mainly fishes of coral reefs and occur from close to the surface down as far as 60m (200ft).[10]
Characteristics
Fusiliers have cylindrical and streamlined bodies,[11] with an oblong or fusiform shape and which are laterally flattened. Their shape is similar to the closely related lutjanine snappers. A line drawn along the body from the snout to the centre of the tail would pass through the eye. They have small, protrusible mouths with small teeth in the jaws and there may or may not be teeth on the other parts of the mouth. They have a deeply forked caudal fin with angular tips to the lobes. The dorsal and anal fins are quite evenly sloped from the front to the back, except that in Dipterygonotus they are not evenly sloped and some dorsal spines are nearly separate. The dorsal fins have 10–15 thin spines and 8–22 soft rays while the anal fin contains 3 spines and 9–13 soft rays. The pelvic fins have a single spine and 5 soft rays while the pectoral fins contain 16–24 rays.[12] They can attain a length of up to 60cm (24in), though most species only reach about half that length.[11] In most species the dorsal and anal fins have scales. Fusiliers do my have stripes on the flanks, some species have black markings on their tails but in all species the axil of the pectoral fins is black.[12]
Biology
Fusiliers are schooling fish, often in mixed species aggregations with other fusiliers.[13] The extensible upper jaws.are adapted for picking zooplankton.[14] Fusiliers are diurnal, they spend the day feeding in large aggregations in middle of the water column over reefs, along steep outer reef slopes and around pinnacles in deep water in lagoons. They are active swimmers but often pause to feeds or to visit the stations of cleaner fish. They shelter in the reef during the night.[15]
Fisheries
Fusiliers are highly important species for coral reef fisheries, these fisheries use drive-in nets to catch fusiliers. Typically they are sold as fresh fish but they may also be fermented to make fish paste.[13] They are also caught by tuna fishers for use as bait.[15]
Fossil history
The Lutjaninae are represented in the fossil record as far back as the 48.6 million years ago from the Eocene where specimens have been found in the United Kingdom and Louisiana. More recent specimens are known from the Miocene in Mexico and Florida and the Quaternary of the Turks and Caicos Islands.[16]
↑ Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara, eds. (5 January 2021). "Order LUTJANIFORMES: Families HAEMULIDAE and LUTJANIDAE". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
