The Beryciformes are a poorly-understood order of carnivorous ray-finned fishes consisting of 7 families, 30 genera, and 161 species. They feed on small fish and invertebrates. Beyond this, little is known about the biology of most member species because of their nocturnal habits and deepwater habitats. All beryciform species are marine and most live in tropical to temperate, deepwater environments. Most live on the continental shelf and continental slope, with some species being found as deep as 2,000 m (6,600 ft). Some species move closer to the surface at night, while others live entirely in shallow water and are nocturnal, hiding in rock crevices and caves during the day. Several species are mesopelagic and bathypelagic. Beryciformes' bodies are deep and mildly compressed, typically with large eyes that help them see in darker waters. Colors range from red to yellow and brown to black, and sizes range from 8–61 cm (3.1–24.0 in). Member genera include the alfonsinos, squirrelfishes, flashlight fishes, fangtooth fishes, spinyfins, pineconefishes, redfishes, roughies, and slimeheads. A number of member species are caught commercially, including the alfonsino, the splendid alfonsino, and the orange roughy, the latter being much more economically important. Some species have bioluminescent bacteria contained in pockets of skin or in light organs near the eyes, including the anomalopids and monocentrids.
The Cetomimiformes or whalefishes are an order of small, deep-sea ray-finned fish. Some authorities include the whalefishes as part of the order Stephanoberyciformes, within the superfamily Cetomimoidea. Their sister order, the Beryciformes, includes the flashlight fish and squirrelfish.
Cetomimidae is a family of small, deep-sea beryciform ray-finned fish. They are among the most deep-living fish known, with some species recorded at depths in excess of 3,500 m (11,500 ft). Females are known as flabby whalefishes, Males are known as bignose fishes, while juveniles are known as tapetails and were formerly thought to be in a separate family, dubbed Mirapinnidae. Adults exhibit extreme sexual dimorphism, and the adult males were once thought to be exemplars of still another family, Megalomycteridae.
The Stephanoberyciformes are an order of marine ray-finned fishes, consisting of about 68 species, the majority (61) of which belong to the ridgehead family (Melamphaidae). The Stephanoberyciformes are mostly uncommon deep-sea species with little, if any, importance to commercial fishery. They share many morphological similarities with the Beryciformes, their sister order.
The Gonostomatidae are a family of mesopelagic marine fish, commonly named bristlemouths, lightfishes, or anglemouths. It is a relatively small family, containing only eight known genera and 32 species. However, bristlemouths make up for their lack of diversity with relative abundance, numbering in the hundreds of trillions to quadrillions. The genus Cyclothone is thought to be one of the most abundant vertebrate genera in the world.
Fangtooths are beryciform fish of the family Anoplogastridae that live in the deep sea. The name is from the Greek anoplo, meaning "unarmed", and γαστήρ, meaning "stomach". With a worldwide distribution in tropical and cold-temperate waters, the family contains only two very similar species in one genus, with no known close relatives.
The velvet whalefish is a deep-sea whalefish, the sole known member of its family Barbourisiidae. It is found throughout the tropical and temperate parts of the world's oceans, mainly in the Pacific near Japan and New Zealand, at depths of 300–2,000 m. This species seems very closely related to some flabby whalefish and it was initially believed to belong to that family by some. They have been found from 65°N–40°S in the Atlantic, 50°N–50°S in the Pacific, and 5–20°S in the Indian Ocean.
Rondeletia bicolor is a species of redmouth whalefish known only from the western Atlantic Ocean, where it is found at depths of around 3,003 m (9,852 ft). This species grows to a length of 11.2 cm (4.4 in).
Rondeletia loricata is a species of redmouth whalefish found in the temperate and tropical oceans at depths of from 100 to 3,500 m. This species grows to a length of 11.0 cm (4.3 in). It is known to be a vertical migrant, occurring at shallower depths at night.
Plotosus is a genus of eeltail catfishes native to the Indian Ocean, the western Pacific Ocean and New Guinea.
Euleptorhamphus is a genus of halfbeaks in the order Beloniformes.
Protacanthopterygii is a superorder of ray-finned fish. They inhabit both marine and freshwater habitats. They appear to have evolved in the Cretaceous or perhaps late Jurassic, originating probably roughly 150 million years ago; fossils of them and the closely related Otocephala are known from throughout the Cretaceous.
The greater amberjack, also known as the allied kingfish, great amberfish, greater yellowtail, jenny lind, Sea donkey, purplish amberjack, reef donkey, rock salmon, sailors choice, yellowtail, and yellow trevally, is a species of predatory ray-finned fish in the family Carangidae, the jacks and pompanos. It is found in temperate, subtropical, and tropical seas around the world. It is a popular quarry species for recreational fisheries and is important in commercial fisheries. It is the largest species in the family Carangidae.
Black seadevils are small, deepsea lophiiform fishes of the family Melanocetidae. The five known species are all within the genus Melanocetus. They are found in tropical to temperate waters of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, with one species known only from the Ross Sea.
Coastal fish, also called inshore fish or neritic fish, inhabit the sea between the shoreline and the edge of the continental shelf. Since the continental shelf is usually less than 200 metres (660 ft) deep, it follows that pelagic coastal fish are generally epipelagic fish, inhabiting the sunlit epipelagic zone. Coastal fish can be contrasted with oceanic fish or offshore fish, which inhabit the deep seas beyond the continental shelves.
Fowlerichthys is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Antennariidae, the frogfishes. The fishes in this genus are found the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Citharichthys cornutus, the horned whiff, is a species of flatfish in the large-tooth flounder family Paralichthyidae. This bathydemersal marine fish inhabits the continental shelves of the western Atlantic Ocean, in both tropical and subtropical waters. It ranges from New Jersey in the north to Uruguay in the south, though larvae samples have also been collected off the coast of Canada. It occurs at depths between 30 and 400 metres, though it is usually found in deeper waters.
Prionotinae is a subfamily of demersal, marine ray-finned fishes, part of the family Triglidae. The fishes in this subfamily are called sea robins and are found in the Western Atlantic and Eastern Pacific Oceans, the other two Triglid subfamilies are called gurnards.
The Angola croaker is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Sciaenidae, the drums and croakers. This is the only species in the monospecific genus Miracorvina. This fish is found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean from the Gulf of Guinea to southern Angola where it is found at depths between 50 and 300 m over sand and mud substrates in waters on the continental shelf and slope, staying deeper than the thermocline. It is a predator of nektonic fishes and crustaceans. This species has a maximum published total length of 120 cm (47 in) but 60 cm (24 in) is more typical. It is thought to be a rare species and is not targeted by fisheries.
