Clupeiformes

Clupeiformes /ˈkluːpiːɪfɔːrmiːz/ is the order of ray-finned fish that includes the herring family, Clupeidae, and the anchovy family, Engraulidae and sardines. The group includes many of the most important forage and food fish.

Clupeiformes Temporal range: Barremian–present[1] PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Atlantic herring, Clupea harengus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Cohort:	Otocephala
Superorder:	Clupeomorpha
Order:	Clupeiformes Goodrich, 1909[2]
Type species
Clupea harengus Linnaeus, 1758
Families
See text

Clupeiformes are physostomes, which means that their gas bladder has a pneumatic duct connecting it to the gut. They typically lack a lateral line, but still have the eyes, fins and scales that are common to most fish, though not all fish have these attributes. They are generally silvery fish with streamlined, spindle-shaped bodies, and they often school. Most species eat plankton which they filter from the water with their gill rakers.^[3]

The former order of Isospondyli was subsumed mostly by Clupeiformes,^[4] but some isospondylous fishes (isospondyls) were assigned to Osteoglossiformes, Salmoniformes, Cetomimiformes, etc.^[5]

Their sister group were the extinct Ellimmichthyiformes, which were dominant throughout much of the Cretaceous and into the Paleogene,^[6] and often coexisted with clupeiforms at many known localities. Both groups closely resembled each other morphologically, although the ellimmichthyiformes evolved some highly divergent body plans later in the Cretaceous.

Several fossil clupeiforms are known from the Early Cretaceous of South America that appear to be more closely allied with Clupeioidei over the Denticipitidae. This suggests a very deep divergence within the crown group Clupeiformes that must have occurred during the Early Cretaceous or before.^[7][8]

Families

Phylogeny of Clupeiformes by Lavoué et al 2014.[9]

Clupeiformes Denticipitoidei Denticipitidae Clupeoidei Engraulidae Coiliinae Engraulinae Spratelloidinae Pristigasteridae Dussumieriidae s.s. Chirocentridae Clupeidae Clupeinae Dorosomatinae

The order includes about 405 species in ten families:^[10][11][12]

• Order Clupeiformes
  • Genus †Histiothrissa Woodward, 1901
  • Genus ?†Jhingrania Misra & Saxena, 1959 (possibly a clupavid)^[13][14]
  • Genus †Santanaclupea Maisey, 1993
  • Genus †Spratticeps Patterson, 1970
  • Suborder Denticipitoidei Grande, 1982
    • Family Denticipitidae Clausen, 1959 (denticle herring)
  • Suborder Clupeoidei Bleeker, 1849
    • Genus †Beksinskiella Granica, Bieńowska-Wasiluki & Paldyna, 2004 ^[15]
    • Genus †Nolfia De Figueiredo, 2009^[16]
    • Genus †Pseudoellima De Figueiredo, 2009^[7]
    • Family †Cynoclupeidae Malabarba & Di Dario, 2017^[8]
    • Family †Garganoclupeidae Taverne, 2014^[17]
    • Family Spratelloididae D. S. Jordan 1925 (dwarf herrings or small round herrings)
    • Family Engraulidae Gill, 1861 (anchovies)
    • Family Clupeidae Cuvier, 1816 (herrings and sprats)
    • Family Chirocentridae Bleeker, 1849 (wolf herrings)
    • Family Dussumieriidae Gill, 1861 (round herrings or rainbow sardines)
    • Family Pristigasteridae Bleeker, 1872 (longfin herrings)
    • Family Ehiravidae Deraniyagala, 1929 (river sprats)
    • Family Alosidae Svetovidov, 1952 (shads and sardines)
    • Family Dorosomatidae Gill, 1861 (thread herrings or gizzard shads and sardinellas)

Timeline of genera