Guide to the identification of genera of the fish order ophidiiformes with a tentative classification of the order /

Abstract

Objectives of the paper are to provide dichotomous keys for the identification of ophidiiform genera. For each genus a brief account is presented including synonymy, a short diagnosis, a list of species, distribution, references, when possible comments on relationships, and for most an outline drawing. The genera are organized into an hierarchical classification which divides them into two suborders, Ophidioidei, which contains oviparous fishes with a high anterior nostril, and Bythitoidei which contains viviparous fishes with a low anterior nostril. Ophidioidei is divided into two families. Carapidae, with a vexillifer larval stage, has two subfamilies: Pyramodontinae with two genera and Carapinae with four. Ophidiidae has four subfamilies: Brotulinae, with a single genus; Brotulotaeniinae (new family) with a single genus; Ophidiinae, the cusk eels, with eight genera in two tribes; and Neobythitinae, with 38 genera (Epetriodus and Spottobrotula are new genera based on new species from the Indian Ocean) in two tribes. Bythitoidei contains two families, one of which, Aphyonidae has five genera characterized by many neotenic features. Bythitidae is divided into the free-tailed Brosmophycinae with 13 genera in two tribes and Bythitinae with 15 genera.

Early Miocene teleost otoliths from Parengarenga Harbour, New Zealand

“…The classification followed here, with the exception of the Ophidiif ormes sensu Cohen & Nielsen (1978);-is that of Greenwood et al (1966).…”

Records of <i>Spottobrotula mahodadi</i> (Ophidiiformes: Ophidiidae) and <i>Hapalogenys bengalensis</i> (Perciformes: Hapalogenyidae) from the Andaman Sea, with a Note on the Fresh Coloration of <i>S</i>. <i>mahodadi</i>

“…Records of Spottobrotula mahodadi Cohen and Nielsen, 1978 (Ophidiidae) have not been verified since the original description by Cohen and Nielsen (1978) on the basis of only the holotype collected off Barren Island (Andaman Islands) in the Andaman Sea. The Arabian Sea specimen referred to that species by Cohen and Nielsen (1982) was subsequently described as a new species, Spottobrotula mossambica Nielsen, Schwarzhans, and Uiblein, 2014.…”

Reproductive characteristics of the bathyal viviparous fish <i>Cataetyx alleni</i> (Osteichthyes: Bythitidae) from the southeastern Sardinian Sea (central-western Mediterranean) MARIA

“…The Bythithoidei are viviparous, a style confirmed by the presence of an intromittent organ in males (Cohen and Nielsen, 1978). The brotulas of the family Bythitidae are small benthic fishes that inhabit shallow waters of the continental slope, with circumglobal distribution in tropical and temperate waters (Leis and Rennis, 2000).…”