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Atherinomorpha

(Series)

Overview

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A Series in the Kingdom Animalia.

Taxonomy

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The Series Atherinomorpha is further organized into finer groupings including:

Families

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Adrianichthyidae

The ricefishes are a family (Adrianichthyidae) of small ray-finned fish that are found in fresh and brackish waters from India to Japan and out into the Indo-Australian Archipelago, most notably Sulawesi. The common name of the group derives from the fact that many species are found in Japanese rice paddies. About 27 species, some extremely rare and endangered, and some 2-4 may already be extinct. [more]

Anablepidae

Anablepidae is a family of freshwater and brackish water fishes living on river estuaries from southern Mexico to southern South America. There are three genera with sixteen species: the four-eyed fishes (genus Anableps), the onesided livebearers (genus Jenynsia) and the white-eye, Oxyzygonectes dovii. Fish of this family eat mostly insects and other invertebrates. [more]

Aplocheilidae

Aplocheilidae are a family of bony fishes containing about 15 species. Formerly, the name "Aplocheilidae" was used for the as a whole, i.e. including the Nothobranchiidae of Africa and the mainly South American Rivulidae as subfamilies. This obsolete system is sometimes still seen, e.g. in ITIS. [more]

Atherinidae

The Old World silversides are a family, Atherinidae, of fish in the order Atheriniformes. They occur worldwide in tropical and temperate waters. About two thirds of the species are marine, and the remainder live in fresh water. [more]

Bedotiidae

Bedotiidae is a family of fish known as the Madagascar rainbowfish, Madagascan rainbowfish, or Malagasy rainbowfish due to their endemism to Madagascar. It includes two genera, Bedotia and Rheocles. [more]

Belonidae

Needlefish (family Belonidae) are piscivorous fishes primarily associated with very shallow marine habitats or the surface of the open sea. Some genera include species found in marine, brackish, and freshwater environments (e.g., Strongylura) while a few genera are confined to freshwater rivers and streams, including Belonion, Potamorrhaphis, and Xenentodon. Needlefish closely resemble North American freshwater gars (family Lepisosteidae) in being elongated and having long, narrow jaws filled with sharp teeth, and some species of needlefish are referred to as gars or garfish despite being only distantly related to the true gars. In fact the name "garfish" was originally used for the needlefish Belone belone in Europe and only later applied to the North American fishes by European settlers during the 18th century. [more]

Cyprinodontidae

Pupfish are a group of small killifish belonging to ten genera of the family Cyprinodontidae of ray-finned fish. All pupfish are especially noted for being found in extreme and isolated situations, in various parts of North America, South America, and the Caribbean region. As of August 2006 there were 120 known nominal species, and 9 subspecies. [more]

Dentatherinidae

Mercer's tusked silverside, Dentatherina merceri, is a species of fish. [more]

Exocoetidae

Exocoetidae, is a family of marine fish in the order Beloniformes of class Actinopterygii. Fish of this family are known as flying fish. There are about 64 species grouped in seven to nine genera. [more]

Forficidae

[more]

Fundulidae

Fundulidae is the family of topminnows and (mainly) North American killifishes. The 46 species are native to North America as far south as Yucatan, and to the islands of Bermuda and Cuba, occurring in both freshwater and marine environments. [more]

Goodeidae

Splitfins, are a family, Goodeidae, of teleost fish endemic to Mexico and some areas of the United States. This family contains 40 species within 18 genera. The family is named after ichthyologist George Brown Goode. [more]

Hemiramphidae

The halfbeaks (family Hemiramphidae) are a geographically widespread and numerically abundant family of epipelagic fish inhabiting warm waters around the world. The family Hemiramphidae is divided into two subfamilies, the primarily marine Hemiramphinae and the freshwater or estuarine Zenarchopterinae. The halfbeaks are named for their distinctive jaws, in which the lower jaws are significantly longer than the upper jaws. The halfbeaks show an exceptionally wide range of reproductive modes. These include egg-laying, ovoviviparity, and true vivipary where the mother is connected to the developing embryos via a placenta-like structure. In some of the livebearing species, developing embryos are also known to exhibit oophagy or intrauterine cannibalism, where developing embryos feed on eggs or other embryos within the uterus. [more]

Melanotaeniidae

The rainbowfish are a family of small, colorful, freshwater fish that are found in northern and eastern Australia and New Guinea and in the Southeast Asian islands. [more]

Notocheiridae

The surf silversides are a small family, Notocheiridae, of salt water atheriniform fish found in tropical and temperate seas. [more]

Phallostethidae

The Priapium fishes are a family, Phallostethidae, of atheriniform fish native to South-east Asia. [more]

Poeciliidae

Poeciliidae is a family of fresh-water fish which are live-bearing aquarium fish (they give birth to live young). They belong to the order Cyprinodontiformes, tooth-carps, and include well-known aquarium fish such as the guppy, molly, platy, and swordtail. The original distribution of the family was the southeastern United States to north of Rio de la Plata, Argentina, and central and southern Africa, including Madagascar. However, due to release of aquarium specimens and the widespread use of species of the genera Poecilia and Gambusia for mosquito control, poeciliids can today be found in all tropical and subtropical areas of the world. [more]

Profundulidae

Profundulidae is a family of teleost fish endemic to Mexico, Guatemala and other countries of Central America. This family is monotypic with only a single genus, Profundulus. This family contains six species. [more]

Pseudomugilidae

The Blue-eyes are the family of atheriniform fish, the Pseudomugilidae, related to the rainbowfishes. They inhabit fresh and brackish water in Australia and New Guinea. Blue-eyes are small fish, typically no more than 5 centimetres (2.0 in) in length. Like rainbowfish, they spawn all year round, and attach their eggs to vegetation. [more]

Rivulidae

Rivulidae are a family of killifishes in the order Cyprinodontiformes. They are commonly known as rivulids, South American killifish or New World killifish. The latter names are slightly misleading however, as they are neither restricted to South America ? though most are in fact found there ?, nor are they the only killifishes from the Americas. Occasionally they are still referred to as rivulines, a term dating back to when they were considered a subfamily of the Aplocheilidae. [more]

Scomberesocidae

Sauries are fish of the family Scomberesocidae. There are two genera, each containing two species. The name Scomberesocidae is derived from the Greek, skombros = tuna/mackerel, and esox = nursery of salmon. [more]

Telmatherinidae

The Sail-fin silversides are a family of atheriniform fish, the Telmatherinidae, inhabiting fresh and brackish water . All but one species are restricted to the island of Sulawesi, and most are found solely in the of that island. [more]

Valenciidae

Valencia is the only genus in the family Valenciidae. Valencia is a genus of ray-finned fishes. It is sometimes grouped into the family Cyprinodontidae. [more]

More info about the Family Valenciidae may be found here.

Sources

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Last Revised: August 24, 2012
2012/08/24 13:05:07