Gempylidae

family of fishes

The Gempylidae are a family of fishes that are called snake mackerels. They belong in the order Scombriformes. The family includes about 25 species.

Snake mackerel

Description

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These creatures are elongated fishes with a similar appearance to barracudas, having a long dorsal fin just like them. However, they are smaller. They have fangs like a barracuda.The largest species, including the snoek (Thyrsites atun), grow up to 2 m long, and the oilfish (Ruvettus pretiosus) can reach 3 m.

Families and genera

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  • Subfamily Clade 1 Mthethwa, 2023
    • Genus Diplospinus
    • Genus Gempylus
    • Genus Nealotus
      • Nealotus tripes J. Y. Johnson, 1865 (Black Snake mackerel)
    • Genus Nesiarchus
      • Nesiarchus nasutus J. Y. Johnson, 1862 (Black gemfish)
    • Genus Paradiplospinus
      • Paradiplospinus antarcticus Andriashev, 1960 (Antarctic escolar)
      • Paradiplospinus gracilis (A. B. Brauer, 1906) (Slender escolar)
    • Genus Promethichthys
    • Genus Rexea
      • Rexea alisae C. D. Roberts & A. L. Stewart, 1997
      • Rexea antefurcata Parin, 1989 (Long-finned escolar)
      • Rexea bengalensis (Alcock, 1894) (Bengal escolar)
      • Rexea brevilineata Parin, 1989 (Short-lined escolar)
      • Rexea nakamurai Parin, 1989 (Nakamura's escolar)
      • Rexea prometheoides (Bleeker, 1856) (Royal escolar)
      • Rexea solandri (G. Cuvier, 1832) (Silver gemfish)
    • Genus Rexichthys
      • Rexichthys johnpaxtoni Parin & Astakhov, 1987 (Paxton’s escolar)
    • Genus Thyrsites
      • Thyrsites atun (Euphrasén, 1791) (Snoek)
    • Genus Thyrsitoides
      • Thyrsitoides marleyi Fowler, 1929 (Blacksail snake mackerel)
    • Genus Thyrsitops
      • Thyrsitops lepidopoides (G. Cuvier, 1832) (White Snake Mackerel)
    • Genus Tongaichthys
  • Subfamily Clade 2 Mthethwa, 2023
    • Genus Epinnula
      • Epinnula magistralis Poey, 1854
      • Epinnula pacifica Ho, Motomura, Hata & Jiang, 2017
    • Genus Lepidocybium
    • Genus Neoepinnula
      • Neoepinnula americana (M. G. Grey, 1953) (American sackfish)
      • Neoepinnula minetomai Nakayama, Y. Kimura & Endo, 2014 (Large-eyed sackfish)
      • Neoepinnula orientalis (Gilchrist & von Bonde, 1924) (Sackfish)
    • Genus Ruvettus
 
Oilfish
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References

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  1. Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2013). "Gempylidae" in FishBase. April 2013 version.
  2. "Gempylidae". Encyclopedia.com.

Other websites

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