Lampridiformes |
![Oarfish](./modules/Fish-MM/images/200px-King_of_herrings.png)
Oarfish
|
Scientific classification |
|
Families |
Turkmenidae (extinct)
Veliferidae (velifers)
Lamprididae (opahs)
Stylephoridae (tube-eye/thread-tail)
Lophotidae (crestfishes)
Radiicephalidae (tapertail)
Trachipteridae (ribbonfishes)
Regalecidae (oarfishes) |
Lampriformes (also spelt Lampridiformes)
are an
order of
ray-finned fish that includes about 50 living species of
deep sea fishes, including the
opahs, crestfishes, ribbonfishes, and oarfish. These are
acanthomorph teleosts which diverged at the end of the
Cretaceous or in the succeeding Paleocene period, 60-70 million years ago. Their sister
order is the
Myctophiformes.
Lampriforms have a highly variable body form, but they
are usually deep-bodied or elongate. The premaxilla
completely excludes the maxilla from the gape. However, the
jaws are highly protrusible, with a unique type of
protrusible upper jaw. The maxilla, instead of being
ligamentously attached to the ethmoid and palatine, slides
in and out with the highly protractile premaxilla. The
lampridiforms have 84-96 total vertebrae, but lack fin
spines. The pelvic fins have 0-17 rays and are placed rather
far toward the front of the animal. The dorsal fins are
long, and tend to run most of the length of the body. They
lack scales. The fishes are normally found at depth 100-1000
m but are pelagic, not bottom feeders.
References
-
"Lampriformes".
FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly.
February 2005 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2005.