Actinopterygii, members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of skin supported by radially extended thin bony spines called lepidotrichia, as opposed to the bulkier, fleshy lobed fins of the sister class Sarcopterygii. Resembling folding fans, the actinopterygian fins can easily change shape and wetted area, providing superior thrust-to-weight ratios per movement compared to sarcopterygian and chondrichthyian fins. The fin rays attach directly to the proximal or basal skeletal elements, the radials, which represent the articulation between these fins and the internal skeleton.
Lampriformes is an order of ray-finned fish. Members are collectively called lamprids or lampriforms, and unite such open-ocean and partially deep-sea Teleostei as the crestfishes, oarfish, opahs, and ribbonfishes. A synonym for this order is Allotriognathi, while an often-seen, but apparently incorrect, spelling variant is Lampridiformes. They contain seven extant families which are generally small but highly distinct, and a mere 12 lampriform genera with some 20 species altogether are recognized. They are the only extant members of the superorder Lamprimorpha, which was formerly diverse throughout much of the Late Cretaceous.
A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through convergent evolution they have independently evolved external superficial fish-like body plans adapted to their marine environments, including most numerously fish, but also mammals such as cetaceans, and even extinct ancient marine reptiles such as various known species of ichthyosaurs. Most species have only one dorsal fin, but some have two or three.
Oarfish are large, greatly elongated, pelagic lampriform fish belonging to the small family Regalecidae. Found in areas spanning from temperate ocean zones to tropical ones, yet rarely seen, the oarfish family contains three species in two genera. One of these, the giant oarfish, is the longest bony fish alive, growing up to 17 m (56 ft) in length.
Members of the genus Lophius, also sometimes called monkfish, fishing-frogs, frog-fish, and sea-devils, are various species of lophiid anglerfishes found in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Lophius is known as the "monk" or "monkfish" to the North Sea and North Atlantic fishermen, a name which also belongs to Squatina squatina, the angelshark, a type of shark. The North European species is Lophius piscatorius, and the Mediterranean species is Lophius budegassa.
The crevalle jack, also known as the common jack, black-tailed trevally, couvalli jack, black cavalli, jack crevale, or yellow cavalli is a common species of large marine fish classified within the jack family, Carangidae. The crevalle jack is distributed across the tropical and temperate waters of the Atlantic Ocean, ranging from Nova Scotia, Canada to Uruguay in the western Atlantic and Portugal to Angola in the eastern Atlantic, including the Mediterranean Sea. It is distinguishable from similar species by its deep body, fin colouration and a host of more detailed anatomical features, including fin ray and lateral line scale counts. It is one of the largest fish in the genus Caranx, growing to a maximum known length of 124 cm and a weight of 32 kg, although is rare at lengths greater than 60 cm. The crevalle jack inhabits both inshore and offshore waters to depths of around 350 m, predominantly over reefs, bays, lagoons and occasionally estuaries. Young fish dispersed north by currents in the eastern Atlantic are known to migrate back to more tropical waters before the onset of winter; however, if the fish fail to migrate, mass mortalities occur as the temperature falls below the species' tolerance.
Slickheads, also known as nakedheads or smoothheads, are deep water fishes that belong to the family Alepocephalidae. They are most commonly found in the bathypelagic layer, which is approximately 3000m below the surface. They get their name from the lack of scales on their heads. Similarly, the scientific name is from the Greek ᾰ̓- (a-, "not"); λέπος (lepos, "scale"); and κεφαλή (kephalē, "head"). It has about 22 genera with ca. 96 species.
The black ruff is a medusafish, the only member of the genus Centrolophus. It is a pelagic fish found in all tropical and temperate oceans at depths of 0 to 1,000 m. Its length is typically up to 60 cm (24 in), but it may reach 150 cm (60 in). Other common names include rudderfish and blackfish.
The giant oarfish is a species of oarfish of the family Regalecidae. It is an oceanodromous species with a worldwide distribution, excluding polar regions. Other common names include Pacific oarfish, king of herrings, ribbonfish, and streamer fish.
The Sillaginidae, commonly known as the smelt-whitings, whitings, sillaginids, sand borers and sand-smelts, are a family of benthic coastal marine fish historically classified in the order Perciformes, although the 5th edition of Fishes of the World places the family in the Spariformes. The smelt-whitings inhabit a wide region covering much of the Indo-Pacific, from the west coast of Africa east to Japan and south to Australia. The family comprises only five genera and 35 species, of which a number are dubious, with the last major revision of the family in 1992 unable to confirm the validity of a number of species. They are elongated, slightly compressed fish, often light brown to silver in colour, with a variety of markings and patterns on their upper bodies. The Sillaginidae are not related to a number of fishes commonly called 'whiting' in the Northern Hemisphere, including the fish originally called whiting, Merlangius merlangus.
The yellowtail scad, is an abundant species of small inshore marine fish of the jack family, Carangidae. The species is widespread in the Indo-Pacific region from east Africa in the west to Hawaii in the east, extending north to Japan and south to Australia. The yellowtail scad is the only member of the monotypic genus Atule and is distinguished from similar species by a well-developed adipose eyelid and finlet-like extensions of the last rays of the dorsal and anal fins. It inhabits coastal areas such as bays and coral reefs, preying on small fishes and crustaceans. Spawning has been well studied in Hawaii, where fish enter bays to spawn, releasing up to 161,000 eggs each between March and October. The yellowtail scad is an important component of fisheries throughout its range, taken by a number of netting and hook-and-line methods. It is a prized food fish in some regions and is cooked or preserved by a variety of methods.
The Argentiniformes is an order of marine ray-finned fish whose distinctness was recognized only fairly recently. In former times, they were included in the Osmeriformes as suborder Argentinoidei. That term refers only to the suborder of marine smelts and barreleyes in the classification used here, with the slickheads and allies being the Alepocephaloidei. These suborders were treated as superfamilies Argentinoidea and Alepocephaloidea, respectively, when the present group was still included in the Osmeriformes.
Rhadinorhynchidae is a family of parasitic worms from the order Echinorhynchida.
Regalecus is a fish genus of the family Regalecidae, commonly called oarfish, with these currently recognized species:
Agrostichthys parkeri, also called the streamer fish, is a species of oarfish. Only seven identified specimens have been examined, with few found fully intact, and have mainly been found in the Southern Ocean. Agrostichthys parkeri belongs to the Regalecidae (oarfish) family in the Lampriformes order and is the only known member of its genus. This species has been known to grow up to 3 metres (9.8 ft) long and has a ribbon-like body, two large eyes, a protruding mouth and long filamentous rays originating at the head. Due to only seven specimens being found, only the distribution and anatomy of Agrostichthys parkeri can be documented.
Pterois russelii, the largetail turkeyfish, plaintail firefish, plaintail turkeyfish, Russell's firefish, Russell's lionfish, spotless butterfly-cod or the spotless firefish, is a species of ray-finned fish with venomous spines belonging to the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes and lionfishes. It is native to the Indo-Pacific Ocean from the eastern part of Africa to the Persian Gulf.
Lutjanus russellii, Russell's snapper, Moses snapper, fingermark bream, Moses seaperch or Russell's sea-perch, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a snapper belonging to the family Lutjanidae. It is native to the western Pacific Ocean.
Spinitectus is a genus of nematodes belonging to the family Cystidicolidae.
Gymnocanthus pistilliger, the threaded sculpin, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. This species occurs in the northern Pacific Ocean.
Rhadinorhynchus mariserpentis is a species of parasitic thorny-headed worm within the family Rhadinorhynchidae. The species is a endoparasite of Regalecus russeli, with the type locality coming from an intestine of an individual collected in the Sea of Japan off the coasts of northern Kyushu.
