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Ophidiiformes
| Ophidiiformes Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| |
| Fawn cusk-eel, Lepophidium profundorum | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Clade: | Percomorpha |
| Order: | Ophidiiformes L. S. Berg, 1937 |
| Type species | |
| Ophidion barbatum Linnaeus 1758
| |
| Suborders | |
|
See text | |
Ophidiiformes /ɒˈfɪdi.ɪfɔːrmiːz/ is an order of ray-finned fish that includes the cusk-eels (family Ophidiidae), pearlfishes (family Carapidae), viviparous brotulas (family Bythitidae), and others. Members of this order have small heads and long slender bodies. They have either smooth scales or no scales, a long dorsal fin and an anal fin that typically runs into the caudal fin. They mostly come from the tropics and subtropics, and live in both freshwater and marine habitats, including abyssal depths. They have adopted a range of feeding methods and lifestyles, including parasitism. The majority are egg-laying, but some are viviparous.
The earliest fossil members are known from the Maastrichtian, and include the basal ophidiiform Pastorius from Italy and several species of the basal cusk-eel Ampheristus from the United States and Germany.[1][2][3]
- ^ Carnevale, Giorgio; Johnson, G. David (2015). "A Cretaceous Cusk-Eel (Teleostei, Ophidiiformes) from Italy and the Mesozoic Diversification of Percomorph Fishes". Copeia. 103 (4): 771–791. doi:10.1643/CI-15-236. ISSN 0045-8511.
- ^ Friedman, Matt; V. Andrews, James; Saad, Hadeel; El-Sayed, Sanaa (2023-06-16). "The Cretaceous–Paleogene transition in spiny-rayed fishes: surveying "Patterson's Gap" in the acanthomorph skeletal record André Dumont medalist lecture 2018". Geologica Belgica. doi:10.20341/gb.2023.002. ISSN 1374-8505.
- ^ Near, Thomas J; Thacker, Christine E (18 April 2024). "Phylogenetic classification of living and fossil ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii)". Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 65. doi:10.3374/014.065.0101.
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