Misplaced Pages

Notacanthidae Temporal range: Santonian–Recent PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Snubnosed spiny eel, Notacanthus chemnitzii
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Notacanthiformes
Family:	Notacanthidae Rafinesque, 1810
Genera
see text

Notacanthidae, the deep-sea spiny eels, are a family of fishes found worldwide below 125 m (410 ft), and as deep as 3,500 m (11,500 ft).

Their bodies are greatly elongated, though more tapered than in true eels. The caudal fin is small or nonexistent, while the anal fin is lengthy, as long as half of the total body length. They feed on animals attached to or living on the sea floor, such as sea anemones, echinoderms, molluscs, and worms.

Although not true eels, these fish do have a similar leptocephalus larval form. However, while the larvae of true eels are about 5–10% of the length of the adult, those of deep-sea spiny eels can grow considerably larger than the adult, and shrink when they develop into their final form. Thus, while adults range from 20 cm (7.9 in) to 1.2 m (3.9 ft) in length, larvae of up to 1.8 m (5.9 ft) have been recorded.

Genera

Notacanthidae includes the following extant genera, although Tilurus is known only from leptocephalus larvae:

• Lipogenys Goode & T. H. Bean 1895
• Notacanthus Bloch, 1788
• Polyacanthonotus Bleeker, 1874
• Tilurus Kölliker, 1853

References

1. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Family Notacanthidae". FishBase. June 2011 version.
2. Van Der Laan, Richard; Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ronald (11 November 2014). "Family-group names of Recent fishes". Zootaxa. 3882 (1): 1–230. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1. PMID 25543675.
3. ^ McCosker, John F. (1998). Paxton, J.R.; Eschmeyer, W.N. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. p. 86. ISBN 0-12-547665-5.
4. Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Notacanthidae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 5 November 2024.

v t e Elopomorph genera
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Actinopterygii Subclass: Neopterygii Infraclass: Teleostei Actinopterygii see Actinopterygii Neopterygii see Neopterygii Teleostei see Teleostei Elopomorpha see below↓ Elopomorpha
Elopiformes †Anaethalion †Aulothrissus †Daitingichthys †Davichthys †Echinelops †Eichstaettia †Elopsomolos †Eoprotelops †Epaelops †Flindersichthys †Ichthyemidion †Leptoelops †Naiathaelon †Protelops †Phyllodontidae Egertonia Eodiaphyodus Paralbula Phyllodus Pseudoegertonia Elopidae †Ctenodentelops Elops †Kipalelops †Lyrolepis †Protoelops Megalopidae †Arratiaelops †Brouweria †Elopoides Megalops †Paratarpon †Promegalops †Protarpon †Sedenhorstia Albuliformes †Baugeichthys †Brannerion †Bullichthys †Euroka †Farinichthys †Holcolepis †Lebonichthys †Marathonichthys †Osmeroides †Palealbula †Paraelops †Protalbula †Stewartichthys Albulidae Albula †Casierius †Deltaichthys †Elopothrissus †Hajulia †Istieus †Italoalbula Nemoossis †Nunaneichthys †Phosphonatator †Pteralbula Pterothrissus Notacanthiformes Notacanthidae Lipogenys Notacanthus Polyacanthonotus Halosauridae Aldrovandia †Echidnocephalus Halosauropsis Halosaurus †Laytonia Anguilliformes see Eels
Category

This Notacanthiformes-related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

• Notacanthidae
• Deep sea fish
• Teleostei families
• Elopomorpha stubs