Squaretails | |
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Smalleye squaretail, Tetragonurus cuvieri Drawing by Dr Tony Ayling | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Scombriformes |
Suborder: | Stromateoidei |
Family: | Tetragonuridae |
Genus: | Tetragonurus Risso, 1810 |
Type species | |
Tetragonurus cuvieri Risso, 1810 | |
Species | |
See text. | |
Synonyms | |
Ctenodax Macleay, 1886 |
The squaretails are a genus, Tetragonurus, of perciform fishes, the only genus in the family Tetragonuridae.
They are found in tropical and subtropical oceans, and feed on jellyfish and ctenophores.
Jellyfish or sea jellies are the informal common names given to the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals with umbrella-shaped bells and trailing tentacles, although a few are not mobile, being anchored to the seabed by stalks. The bell can pulsate to provide propulsion and highly efficient locomotion. The tentacles are armed with stinging cells and may be used to capture prey and defend against predators. Jellyfish have a complex life cycle; the medusa is normally the sexual phase, the planula larva can disperse widely and is followed by a sedentary polyp phase.
The three species are:
The bigeye squaretail, Tetragonurus atlanticus, is a marine fish native to the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. They feed on soft-bodied medusae and salps and will also eat plankton. Their average length is 50 cm, and their habitat is pelagic. They are poisonous to eat.
The smalleye squaretail, Tetragonurus cuvieri, is a squaretail of the genus Tetragonurus found in all tropical and temperate oceans of the world, at depths up to 800 m. Its length is 20 to 70 cm.
Giuseppe Antonio Risso, called Antoine Risso, was a Niçard naturalist.
Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of pelagic fish, mostly from the family Scombridae. They are found in both temperate and tropical seas, mostly living along the coast or offshore in the oceanic environment.
Carcharhiniformes, the ground sharks, with over 270 species, are the largest order of sharks. They include a number of common types, such as catsharks, swellsharks, and the sandbar shark.
Gadus is a genus of demersal fish in the family Gadidae, commonly known as cod, although there are additional cod species in other genera. The best known member of the genus is the Atlantic cod.
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 numbers: Cyclothone, with 12 species, is thought to be the most abundant vertebrate genus in the world, numbering in the hundreds of trillions to quadrillions.
Echinorhinus is the only extant genus in the family Echinorhinidae.
Thunnus is a genus of ocean-dwelling, ray-finned bony fish from the Scombridae (mackerel) family. More specifically, Thunnus is one of five genera which make up the Thunnini tribe – a tribe that is collectively known as the tunas. Also called the true tunas or real tunas, Thunnus consists of eight species of tuna, divided into two subgenera. The word Thunnus is the Middle Latin form of the Ancient Greek: θύννος, translit. (thýnnos), lit. 'tunny-fish' – which is in turn derived from θύνω (thynō), "to rush; to dart". The first written use of the word was by Homer.
Tridentopsis is a genus of pencil catfishes native to South America.
Gagata is a genus of sisorid catfishes native to Asia.
The Samaridae are a family, the crested flounders, of small flatfishes native to the Indo-Pacific. They were formerly classified as a subfamily of Pleuronectidae. The family contains four genera with a total of almost 30 species.
Lucania is a genus of North American ray-finned killifishes in the family Fundulidae. The genus can be found in northeastern Mexico and the southeastern and eastern parts of the United States, with L. parva ranging as far north as Massachusetts. They are mostly found in fresh water, although L. parva also is frequent in coastal brackish water. They are sometimes held in aquariums.
Fish are very diverse animals and can be categorised in many ways. This article is an overview of some of ways in which fish are categorised. Although most fish species have probably been discovered and described, about 250 new ones are still discovered every year. According to FishBase, 33,100 species of fish had been described by April 2015. That is more than the combined total of all other vertebrate species: mammals, amphibians, reptiles and birds.
Several species of fish are claimed to produce hallucinogenic effects when consumed. For example, Sarpa salpa, a species of sea bream, is commonly claimed to be hallucinogenic. These widely distributed coastal fish are normally found in the Mediterranean and around Spain, and along the west and south coasts of Africa. Occasionally they are found in British waters. They may induce hallucinogenic effects that are purportedly LSD-like if eaten. In 2006, two men who apparently ate the fish experienced hallucinations lasting for several days. The likelihood of hallucinations depends on the season. Sarpa salpa is known as "the fish that makes dreams" in Arabic.
Thunnus (Thunnus) is a subgenus of ray-finned bony fishes in the Thunnini, or tuna, tribe. More specifically, Thunnus (Thunnus) is a subgenus of the genus Thunnus, also known as the "true tunas". Thunnus (Thunnus) is sometimes referred to as the bluefin group, and comprises five species:
Penetopteryx is a genus of pipefishes.
The squaretail mullet, also known as the diamondscale mullet, is a species of grey mullet from the family Mugilidae. It is an Indo-Pacific species and is the only species in the monospecific genus Ellochelon.
The corsula is a species of ray-finned fish from the grey mullet family Mugilidae. It is found in the rivers and estuaries of southern Asia, in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar. It is presently regarded as the only species in the monospecific genus Rhinomugil.
FishBase is a global species database of fish species. It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on adult finfish on the web. Over time it has "evolved into a dynamic and versatile ecological tool" that is widely cited in scholarly publications.