Lycodinae is a subfamily of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Zoarcidae, the eelpouts. These eelpouts are found are in all the world's oceans, with a number of species being found off southern South America.

Lycodinae
Lycodes vahlii
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Scorpaeniformes
Suborder: Zoarcoidei
Family: Zoarcidae
Subfamily: Lycodinae
Gill, 1861[1]
Genera[2]

See text

Taxonomy edit

Lycodinae was first proposed as a taxonomic grouping in 1861 by the American zoologist Theodore Gill.[1] The subfamily is classified within the eelpout family, Zoarcidae part of the suborder Zoarcoidei within the order Scorpaeniformes.[3] The name of the subfamily derives from its type genus, Lycodes, which means "wolf-like" and refers to the then presumed close relationship of that taxon to the wolffish.[4]

Genera edit

Lycodinae contains the following genera:[5][6]

Characteristics edit

Lycodinae eelpouts have elongate heads and bodies, they have between 58 and 144 vertebrae. The branchiostegal membranes are typically attached to the isthmus, although not in Lycodapus. Most have a wide bill slit but in some species it is more restricted. They do not usually possess a pore between the eyes. There are between 4 and 9 suborbital bones, typically, from 6 to 8, and these create an L-shaped pattern around the eyes. There are between 6 and 12 fin rays in the caudal fin. They have no spines in their fins, although in a few species there are pelvic fin rays which are fused into a pelvic splint.[5] The largest species is Lycodes soldatovi which has a maximum published fork length of 91 cm (36 in).[7]

Distribution edit

Lycodinae eelpouts are found throughout the world with a notable radiation in the littoral to upper continental slope off southern South America.[5]

References edit

  1. ^ a b Richard van der Laan; William N. Eschmeyer & Ronald Fricke (2014). "Family-group names of Recent fishes". Zootaxa. 3882 (2): 001–230. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1. PMID 25543675.
  2. ^ "Lycodinae". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  3. ^ J. S. Nelson; T. C. Grande; M. V. H. Wilson (2016). Fishes of the World (5th ed.). Wiley. pp. 478–482. ISBN 978-1-118-34233-6.
  4. ^ Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara, eds. (6 May 2022). "Order Perciformes Suborder Cottoidea: Infraorder Zoarcales: Family: Zoarcidae". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  5. ^ a b c Anderson , M. E. and V. V . Fedorov (2004). "Family Zoarcidae Swainson 1839 — eelpouts" (PDF). California Academy of Sciences Annotated Checklists of Fishes. 34.
  6. ^ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Lycodinae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  7. ^ Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2022). Species of Lycodes in FishBase. June 2022 version.