Wormfish

Last updated

Wormfishes
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Gobiiformes
Family: Gobiidae
Subfamily: Microdesminae
Genera

Wormfishes were a subfamily, Microdesminae, which are formerly classified in the family Microdesmidae and are also currently classified, with no intervening rank, in the family Gobiidae and the order Gobiiformes. [1] [2]

They are found in shallow tropical waters, both marine and brackish, often burrowing in estuarine mud. They are small fishes, the largest species reaching only about 12 cm in length. [3]

Related Research Articles

Cod Common name for the demersal fish genus Gadus

Cod is the common name for the demersal fish genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus Gadus is commonly not called cod.

Scorpaeniformes Order of fishes

The Scorpaeniformes are a diverse order of ray-finned fish, including the lionfish, but have also been called the Scleroparei. It is one of the five largest orders of bony fishes by number of species, with over 1,320.

Sturgeon Ray-finned fish

Sturgeon is the common name for the 27 species of fishes belonging to the family Acipenseridae. The earliest sturgeon fossils date to the Late Cretaceous, and are descended from other, earlier acipenseriform fish who date back to the Triassic period some 245 to 208 million years ago. The family is grouped into four genera: Acipenser, Huso, Scaphirhynchus and Pseudoscaphirhynchus. Two species may be extinct in the wild, and one may be entirely extinct. Two closely related species, Polyodon spathula and Psephurus gladius are of the same order, Acipenseriformes, but are in the family Polyodontidae and are not considered to be "true" sturgeons. Both sturgeons and paddlefish have been referred to as "primitive fishes" because their morphological characteristics have remained relatively unchanged since the earliest fossil record. Sturgeons are native to subtropical, temperate and sub-Arctic rivers, lakes and coastlines of Eurasia and North America.

Death Valley pupfish Small endangered fish native to Death Valley, California

The Death Valley pupfish, also known as Salt Creek pupfish, is a small species of fish in the family Cyprinodontidae found only in Death Valley National Park, California, United States. There are two recognized subspecies: C. s. salinus and C. s. milleri. The Death Valley pupfish is endemic to two small, isolated locations and currently classified as endangered.

Grouper Subfamily of fishes

Groupers are fish of any of a number of genera in the subfamily Epinephelinae of the family Serranidae, in the order Perciformes.

Blenniiformes Order of fishes

Blenny is a common name for a type of fish. The term is ambiguous, having been applied to several families of percomorph marine, brackish, and some freshwater fish sharing similar morphology and behaviour. Six families are considered "true blennies", all grouped together under the order Blenniiformes; its members are referred to as blenniiformids. About 151 genera and nearly 900 species have been described within the order. The order was formerly classified as a suborder of the Perciformes but the 5th Edition of Fishes of the World divided the Perciformes into a number of new orders and the Blenniiformes were placed in the percomorph clade Ovalentaria alongside the such taxa as Cichliformes, Mugiliformes and Gobiesociformes.

School shark Species of shark

The school shark is a houndshark of the family Triakidae, and the only member of the genus Galeorhinus. Common names also include tope shark, snapper shark, and soupfin shark. It is found worldwide in temperate seas at depths down to about 800 m (2,600 ft). It can grow to nearly 2 m long. It feeds both in midwater and near the seabed, and its reproduction is ovoviviparous. This shark is caught in fisheries for its flesh, its fins, and its liver, which has a very high vitamin A content. The IUCN has classified this species as critically endangered in its Red List of Threatened Species.

Fish Vertebrate animal that lives in water and usually has gills

Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. They form a sister group to the tunicates, together forming the olfactores. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Around 99% of living fish species are ray-finned fish, belonging to the class Actinopterygii, with over 95% belonging to the teleost subgrouping.

Microdesmidae Family of fishes

The Microdesmidae, the wormfishes and dartfishes, were a family of goby-like fishes in the order Gobiiformes, more recent workers have placed this taxon within the Gobiidae, although the researchers do not define the taxonomic status of this grouping within that family. Two subfamilies in this family were briefly treated as full families - the Ptereleotrinae (dartfishes) and Microdesminae (wormfishes). The family includes about 82 species.

Dartfish Subfamily of fishes

Dartfishes are a group of fish, formerly considered to be a subfamily, Ptereleotrinae, of goby-like fishes in the family Microdesmidae of the order Gobiiformes, Authorities now consider the species in the family Microdesmidae are within the Gobiidae, although the researchers do not define the taxonomic status of this grouping within that family. They are saltwater fish.

Striped red mullet Species of fish

The striped red mullet or surmullet is a species of goatfish found in the Mediterranean Sea, eastern North Atlantic Ocean, and the Black Sea. They can be found in water as shallow as 5 metres (16 ft) or as deep as 409 metres (1,342 ft) depending upon the portion of their range that they are in. This species can reach a length of 40 centimetres (16 in) [toxic when not cooked [fish measurement|SL]] though most are only around 25 centimetres (9.8 in). The greatest recorded weight for this species is 1 kilogram (2.2 lb). This is a commercially important species and is also sought after as a game fish.

Gobiiformes Order of fishes

The Gobiiformes are an order of fish that includes the gobies and their relatives. The order, which was previously considered a suborder of Perciformes, is made up of about 2,211 species that are divided between seven families. Phylogenetic relationships of the Gobiiformes have been elucidated using molecular data. Gobiiforms are primarily small species that live in marine water, but roughly 10% of these species inhabit fresh water. This order is composed chiefly of benthic or burrowing species; like many other benthic fishes, most gobiiforms do not have a gas bladder or any other means of controlling their buoyancy in water, so they must spend most of their time on or near the bottom. Gobiiformes means "Goby-like".

Anchovy Family of fishes

An anchovy is a small, common forage fish of the family Engraulidae. Most species are found in marine waters, but several will enter brackish water, and some in South America are restricted to fresh water.

Springeratus caledonicus, the Caledonian weedfish, is a species of clinid found around New Caledonia and Australia. This species placement in the family Clinidae has been questioned with some feeling that it is best placed in the family Microdesmidae.

<i>Nemateleotris</i> Genus of fishes

Nemateleotris is a genus of dartfishes native to the Indian and Pacific oceans.

<i>Caprodon</i> Genus of fishes

Caprodon is a small genus of fish belonging to the subfamily Anthiinae. It contains three species.

<i>Lepidoperca</i> Genus of fishes

Lepidoperca is a small genus of fish belonging to the Anthiinae subfamily. It includes ten species.

<i>Oxymetopon</i> Genus of fishes

Oxymetopon is a genus of fish formerly classified in the family Microdesmidae but now classified in the Gobiidae. They are native to the western Pacific Ocean. They are sometimes called ribbon-gobies.

Labriformes Order of ray-finned fishes

Labriformes is an order of ray-finned fishes which includes the wrasse, cales and parrotfishes, within the clade Percomorpha. Some authors include the Labroformes as the clade Labroidei within the Perciformes while others include more families within the Labriformes, such as the cichlids and damselfishes, but the 5th edition of Fishes of the World includes just three listed in the section below and includes 87 genera and about 630 species.

Zagadkogobius ourlazon is a species of fish in the family Microdesmidae native to the deep-water of southwestern South China Sea. This species is the only member of its genus.

References

  1. J. S. Nelson; T. C. Grande; M. V. H. Wilson (2016). Fishes of the World (5th ed.). Wiley. p. 752. ISBN   978-1-118-34233-6.
  2. Freihofer, Warren; Parenti, Lynne. "Perciform". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 9 April 2020. Retrieved 9 April 2020.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  3. Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2013). "Microdesmidae" in FishBase . December 2013 version.