Overview
Clupeiformes is the order of that includes the herring family, Clupeidae, and the anchovy family, Engraulidae. The group includes many of the most important food fish.
Clupeiformes are physostomes, which means that the gas bladder has a pneumatic duct connecting it to the gut. They typically lack a lateral line, but still have the eyes, fins and scales that are common to the fish family, although not all fish have these attributes. They are generally silvery fish with streamlined, spindle-shaped, bodies, and live in large shoals. Most species eat plankton, which they filter from the water with their gill rakers.1]
Families
The order includes about 300 species in six families:[2]
Order Clupeiformes
- Family Denticipitidae (denticle herring)
- Family Engraulidae (anchovies)
- Family Pristigasteridae
- Family Chirocentridae (wolf herrings)
- Family Clupeidae (herrings, sardines, shads, and menhadens)
- Family Sundasalangidae (Sundaland noodlefishes)
Photos
Taxonomy
The Order Clupeiformes is further organized into finer groupings including:
- Suborder (2): Clupeoidei · Denticipitoidei
- Family (7): Chirocentridae · Clupeidae · Denticipitidae · Engraulidae · Engraulididae · Pristigasteridae · Sundasalangidae
- Species: ZipcodeZoo has pages for 1,310 species and subspecies in the Order Clupeiformes.
Families
Chirocentridae
The wolf herrings are a (Chirocentridae) of two marine species of ray-finned fish related to the herrings. [more]
Clupeidae
Clupeidae is the family of the , shads, sardines, hilsa and menhadens. It includes many of the most important food fishes in the world. [more]
Denticipitidae
The denticle herring (Denticeps clupeoides) is a small (15 cm) species of found only in the rivers of Benin, Nigeria and Cameroon, related to the herrings, but notable for its large anal fin and its array of denticle like scales under the head giving it almost a furry appearance. It is the sole living member of the family Denticipitidae. [more]
Engraulidae
The anchovies are a (Engraulidae) of small, common salt-water forage fish. There are about 140 species in 16 genera, found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. Anchovies are usually classified as an oily fish. [more]
Engraulididae
Pristigasteridae
Pristigasteridae is a family of related to the herrings, and including the genera Ilisha and Pellona. The taxonomic classification of this family is in doubt. [more]
Sundasalangidae
Sundaland noodlefishes are a small family, Sundasalangidae, of fishes. [more]
At least 7 species and subspecies belong to the Family Sundasalangidae.
More info about the Family Sundasalangidae may be found here.
References
- ^ Nelson, Gareth (1998). Paxton, J.R. & Eschmeyer, W.N.. ed. Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 91-95. ISBN 0-12-547665-5.
- ^ "Clupeiformes". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. December 2008 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2008.
Sources
- The text on this page is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It includes material from Wikipedia retrieved Thursday, August 13, 2009.
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