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Spikefish

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Spikefishes
Temporal range: Oligocene–Recent
Parahollardia lineata
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Tetraodontiformes
Suborder: Triacanthoidei
Family: Triacanthodidae
T. N. Gill, 1862
Subfamilies and genera [1]

see text

The spikefishes (family Triacanthodidae) are ray-finned fishes related to the pufferfishes and triggerfishes. They live in deep waters; more than 50 m (160 ft), but above the continental shelves. They are found in the Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and the west-central Pacific.[2]

The spikefishes are quite variable in form, with some species having tubular snouts (greatly elongated in Halimochirurgus and Macrorhamphosodes), and others have spoon-like teeth for scraping the scales off other fishes. Depending on the exact species involved, they reach a maximum length of about 5–22 centimetres (2.0–8.7 in).

While spikefish are shaped in a wide variety of different colors, sizes, and shapes, they can characterized by their similarities of having a dense body with relatively thick skin, a large amount of tiny yet spiky scales, two dorsal fins of which the first contains six spines and twelve to eighteen soft spines along the second, a rounded caudal fin, small and terminal mouth with at least 10 average sized conical teeth.

Taxonomy

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The spikefish family, Triacanthodidae, was first proposed in 1862 by the American biologist Theodore Gill[3] and, in 1968, James C. Tyler classified it within the suborder Triacanthoidei alongside the Triacanthidae, as well as proposing the subfamily Hollardinae.[4] The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies this as suborder of the order Tetraodontiformes.[5]

Subfamiles and genera

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The spikefish family, Triacanthodidae, is divided into two subfamilies and eleven genera as follows:[6]

References

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  1. ^ Matsuura, K. (2014). "Taxonomy and systematics of tetraodontiform fishes: a review focusing primarily on progress in the period from 1980 to 2014". Ichthyological Research. 62 (1): 72–113. Bibcode:2015IchtR..62...72M. doi:10.1007/s10228-014-0444-5.
  2. ^ Matsuura, K.; Tyler, J.C. (1998). Paxton, J.R.; Eschmeyer, W.N. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 227–228. ISBN 0-12-547665-5.
  3. ^ Richard van der Laan; William N. Eschmeyer & Ronald Fricke (2014). "Family-group names of recent fishes". Zootaxa. 3882 (2): 1–230. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1. PMID 25543675.
  4. ^ Franceso Santini; James C. Tyler (2003). "A phylogeny of the families of fossil and extant tetraodontiform fishes (Acanthomorpha, Tetraodontiformes), Upper Cretaceous to Recent". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 139 (4): 565–617. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2003.00088.x.
  5. ^ Nelson, J.S.; Grande, T.C.; Wilson, M.V.H. (2016). Fishes of the World (5th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 518–526. doi:10.1002/9781119174844. ISBN 978-1-118-34233-6. LCCN 2015037522. OCLC 951899884. OL 25909650M.
  6. ^ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Triacanthodidae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  7. ^ a b Tyler, James C.; Jerzmanska, Anna; Bannikov, Alexandre F.; Swidnicki, Jacek (1993). "Two New Genera and Species of Oligocene Spikefishes (Tetraodontiformes: Triacanthodidae), the First Fossils of the Hollardiinae and Triacanthodinae". Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology (75): 1–27. doi:10.5479/si.00810266.75.1. hdl:10088/1994. ISSN 0081-0266.