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Percomorpha

Clade of ray-finned fishes From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Percomorpha
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Percomorpha (from Latin perca 'perch' and Ancient Greek μορφή (morphḗ) 'shape, appearance') is an extremely large and diverse clade of ray-finned fish. With more than 17,000 known species (including tuna, seahorses, gobies, cichlids, flatfish, wrasse, perches, anglerfish, and pufferfish) known from both marine and freshwater ecosystems, it is the most speciose clade of extant vertebrates.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Quick Facts Scientific classification, Subgroups ...
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Evolution

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Percomorpha are the most diverse group of teleost fish today. Teleosts, and percomorphs in particular, thrived during the Cenozoic era. Fossil evidence shows that there was a major increase in size and abundance of teleosts immediately after the mass extinction event at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary c.66 Ma ago.[7] The oldest known percomorph fossils are of the early tetraodontiforms Protriacanthus and Cretatriacanthidae from the Santonian to Campanian of Italy and Slovenia.[8] A higher diversity of early percomorphs is also known from the Campanian of Nardò, Italy, and these also show some level of diversification into modern orders, with representatives of the Syngnathiformes and Tetraodontiformes known.[9] Possibly the oldest percomorph is Plectocretacicus from the Cenomanian of Lebanon, which may be a stem-tetraodontiform; however, some morphological analyses indicate that it shows similarities with non-percomorph groups.[8][10]

Thumb
Evolution of ray-finned fishes, Actinopterygii, from the Devonian to the present as a spindle diagram. The width of the spindles are proportional to the number of families as a rough estimate of diversity. The diagram is based on Benton, M. J. (2005) Vertebrate Palaeontology, Blackwell, 3rd edition, Fig 7.13 on page 185.

Taxonomy

Many of the orders placed in Percomorpha today were originally placed in an expanded Perciformes, hence many sources often referring to that order as the most diverse vertebrate clade. However, more recent studies have found such a placement to be paraphyletic, and many have thus been moved to their orders within Percomorpha.[6]

The Percomorpha are an extremely diverse group with at least 22 orders according to Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes.[11] Other authorities find a different number of orders depending on the classification used.

The following taxonomy is based on Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes (2025), with additional suborders based on other studies:[5][11]

Phylogeny

External relationships

The two cladograms below are based on Betancur-R et al., 2017.[5] Percomorphs are a clade of teleost fishes. The first cladogram shows the interrelationships of percomorphs with other living groups of teleosts.


Teleostei

Elopomorpha (Elopiformes, Albuliformes, Notacanthiformes, Anguilliformes)Thumb

Osteoglossocephala

Osteoglossomorpha (Hiodontiformes, Osteoglossiformes) Thumb

Clupeocephala
Otocephala
Euteleostei


Internal relationships

The following cladogram shows the evolutionary relationships of the various groups of extant percomorph fishes:


Percomorpha
Ophidiaria

Ophidiiformes (cusk-eels) Thumb

Batrachoidaria

Batrachoididae (toadfishes)

Pelagiaria

Scombriformes (tunas, mackerel, etc.)Thumb

Syngnatharia

Syngnathiformes (seahorses, seadragon, etc.)

Anabantaria
Carangaria

Polynemidae (threadfins) Thumb

Lactariidae (false trevally)Thumb

Menidae (moonfish)

Part of "Carangiformes"

Nematistiidae (roosterfish)Thumb

Echeneidae (remoras)Thumb

Coryphaenidae (dolphinfish)Thumb

Rachycentridae (cobia)Thumb

Sphyraenidae (barracudas)Thumb

Centropomidae (snooks) Thumb

Pleuronectiformes (flatfish) Thumb

Part of "Carangiformes"

Carangidae (jacks)Thumb

Istiophoriformes (billfish)Thumb

Leptobramidae (beachsalmons)

Toxotidae (archerfish)

Ovalentaria
Cichlomorphae

Cichliformes (cichlids, convict blennies)Thumb

Polycentridae (leaffish)Thumb

Atherinomorphae

Beloniformes (needlefish, flying fish, halfbeaks)Thumb

Atheriniformes (silversides, rainbowfish, etc.)Thumb

Cyprinodontiformes (tooth-carps)Thumb

Ambassidae (Asiatic glassfishes) Thumb

Congrogadidae (eel blenny) Thumb

Pomacentridae (damselfishes, clownfish) Thumb

Embiotocidae (surfperches)Thumb

Mugilomorphae

Mugiliformes (mullets)Thumb

LipogrammaThumb

Plesiopidae (roundheads)Thumb

Pseudochromidae (dottybacks) Thumb

Grammatidae (basslets)Thumb

Opistognathidae (jawfishes)Thumb

Blenniimorphae
Eupercaria

Gerreiformes (mojarras)Thumb

Uranoscopiformes (stargazers)Thumb

Moronidae (temperate basses)Thumb

Sillaginidae (smelt-whitings)Thumb

Ephippiformes (spadefishes, batfishes)

Chaetodontiformes (butterflyfishes)

Sciaenidae (drums, croakers)Thumb

Acanthuriformes (surgeonfishes, ponyfishes) Thumb

Monodactylidae (moonyfishes, fingerfishes)

Emmelichthyidae (rovers)Thumb

Pomacanthidae (angelfishes)Thumb

Lutjaniformes (snappers)Thumb

Callanthiidae (splendid perches)Thumb

Malacanthidae (tilefishes)Thumb

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References

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