Snake mackerel

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Snake mackerel
Oilfish, Ruvettus pretiosus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Actinopterygii Order: Perciformes Family: Gempylidae
Genera
Diplospinus Epinnula Gempylus Lepidocybium Nealotus Neoepinnula Nesiarchus Paradiplospinus Promethichthys Rexea Rexichthys Ruvettus Thyrsites Thyrsitoides Thyrsitops Tongaichthys See text for species.

Snake mackerel are perciform fishes in the family Gempylidae.

They are elongate fishes with a similar appearance to barracudas, having a long dorsal fin, usually with one or finlets trailing it. The largest species, including the snoek, Thyrsites atun, grow up to two metres long.

They are deep-water benthopelagic fishes, and several species are important commercial and game fishes.

[edit] Species

There are 24 species in sixteen genera:

• Genus Diplospinus
  • Striped escolar, Diplospinus multistriatus Maul, 1948.
• Genus Epinnula
  • Domine, Epinnula magistralis Poey, 1854.
• Genus Gempylus
  • Gempylus serpens Cuvier, 1829.
• Genus Lepidocybium
  • Escolar, Lepidocybium flavobrunneum (Smith, 1843).
• Genus Nealotus
  • Black snake mackerel, Nealotus tripes Johnson, 1865.
• Genus Neoepinnula
  • American sackfish, Neoepinnula americana (Grey, 1953).
  • Sackfish, Neoepinnula orientalis (Gilchrist & von Bonde, 1924).
• Genus Nesiarchus
  • Black gemfish, Nesiarchus nasutus Johnson, 1862.
    

    

    Black gemfish, Nesiarchus nasutus
• Genus Paradiplospinus
  • Antarctic escolar, Paradiplospinus antarcticus Andriashev, 1960.
  • Slender escolar, Paradiplospinus gracilis (Brauer, 1906).
• Genus Promethichthys
  • Roudi escolar, Promethichthys prometheus (Cuvier, 1832).
    

    

    Roudi escolar, Promethichthys prometheus
• Genus Rexea
  • Rexea alisae Roberts & Stewart, 1997.
  • Long-finned escolar, Rexea antefurcata Parin, 1989.
  • Bengal escolar, Rexea bengalensis (Alcock, 1894).
  • Short-lined escolar, Rexea brevilineata Parin, 1989.
  • Nakamura's escolar, Rexea nakamurai Parin, 1989.
  • Royal escolar, Rexea prometheoides (Bleeker, 1856).
  • Silver gemfish or Gemfish, Rexea solandri (Cuvier, 1832).
• Genus Rexichthys
  • Paxton's escolar, Rexichthys johnpaxtoni Parin & Astakhov, 1987.
• Genus Ruvettus
  • Oilfish, Ruvettus pretiosus Cocco, 1833.
• Genus Thyrsites
  • Snoek, Thyrsites atun (Euphrasen, 1791).
• Genus Thyrsitoides
  • Black snoek, Thyrsitoides marleyi Fowler, 1929.
• Genus Thyrsitops
  • White snake mackerel, Thyrsitops lepidopoides (Cuvier, 1832).
• Genus Tongaichthys
  • Tonga escolar, Tongaichthys robustus Nakamura & Fujii, 1983.

The longfin escolar, Scombrolabrax heterolepis, was formerly classified in this family, but it is now placed in its own family Scombrolabracidae.

[edit] References

• "Gempylidae". FishBase. Ed. Rainer Froese and Daniel Pauly. February 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.