Eelpout

The eelpouts are the ray-finned fish family Zoarcidae. As the common name suggests, they are somewhat eel-like in appearance, with elongated bodies and the dorsal and anal fins continuous with the caudal fin. All of the roughly 300 species are marine and mostly bottom-dwelling, some at great depths.

This article is about the family of marine fish. For the freshwater fish species known as eelpout in some regions of North America, see burbot.

Eelpout
Gymnelus hemifasciatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Zoarcidae
Swainson, 1839[1]
Subfamilies
  • Gymnelinae Gill, 1863
  • Lycodinae Gill, 1861
  • Lycozoarcinae Andriashev, 1939
  • Zoarcinae Swainson, 1839

They are conventionally placed in the "perciform" assemblage; in fact, the Zoarcoidei seem to be specialized members of the Gasterosteiformes-Scorpaeniformes group of Acanthopterygii.[2]

The largest member of the family is Zoarces americanus, which may reach 1.1 m in length. Other notable family members include Lycodapus and Gymnelus.

Genera

This family contains about 61 genera and 300 species:

Bothrocara brunneum
Lycodes turneri
Pachycara sp.
Zoarces viviparus

Timeline
QuaternaryNeogenePaleogeneHolocenePleist.MioceneOligoceneEocenePaleoceneAnarrhichthysAnarhichasQuaternaryNeogenePaleogeneHolocenePleist.MioceneOligoceneEocenePaleocene

References
  1. Swainson, William (1839). On the Natural History and Classification of Fishes, Amphibians, and Reptiles. 2. London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Greene, & Longmans. pp. 82–83, 184, 283. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.62140.
  2. Kawahara, R.; Miya, M.; Mabuchi, K.; Lavoué, S.; Inoue, J.G.; Satoh, T.P.; Kawaguchi, A. & Nishida, M. (2008). "Interrelationships of the 11 gasterosteiform families (sticklebacks, pipefishes, and their relatives): a new perspective based on whole mitogenome sequences from 75 higher teleosts". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 46 (1): 224–36. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2007.07.009. PMID 17709262.
  3. Matallanas J.; Corbella C. (2012). "Redescription of Iluocoetes Jenyns, 1842; proposal of a new genus, Argentinolycus, for Iluocoetes elongatus (Smitt, 1898), and description of Patagolycus melastomus gen. et sp. nov. (Teleostei, Zoarcidae)". Zootaxa. 3296: 1–18.
  4. Iglésias S.P.; Dettai A.; Ozouf-Costaz C. (2012). "Barbapellis pterygalces, new genus and new species of a singular eelpout (Zoarcidae: Teleostei) from the Antarctic deep waters". Polar Biology. 35 (2): 215–220. doi:10.1007/s00300-011-1057-3.
  5. Matallanas J (2010). "Description of two new genera, Santelmoa and Bentartia and two new species of Zoarcidae (Teleostei, Perciformes) from the Southern Ocean". Polar Biology. 33 (5): 659–672. doi:10.1007/s00300-009-0742-y.
  6. Nazarkin M.V.; Shinohara G.; Shirai S.M. (2014). "Phylogeny and taxonomy of Petroschmidtia teraoi (Katayama, 1943) (Osteichthyes: Perciformes: Zoarcidae)". Zootaxa. 3780 (1): 171–193. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3780.1.7.
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