Gempylidae
| Gempylidae Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| Snake Mackerel, Gempylus serpens | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Scombriformes |
| Suborder: | Scombroidei |
| Family: | Gempylidae T. N. Gill, 1862 |
| Genera[1] | |
The Gempylidae are a family of scombriform ray-finned fishes commonly known as snake mackerels or escolars. The family includes about 25 species.
They are elongated 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 (Leionura atun), grow up to 2 m (6 ft 7 in) long, and the oilfish (Ruvettus pretiosus) can reach 3 m (9.8 ft), though they rarely surpass 150 cm (59 in). Like the barracudas, they are predators, with fang-like teeth.[2]
Taxonomy
- Subfamily Clade 1 Mthethwa, 2023
- Genus Diplospinus
- Diplospinus multistriatus Maul, 1948 (Striped escolar)
- Genus Gempylus
- Gempylus serpens G. Cuvier, 1829 (Snake mackerel)
- Genus Nealotus
- Nealotus tripes J. Y. Johnson, 1865 (Black Snake mackerel)
- Genus Nesiarchus
- Nesiarchus nasutus J. Y. Johnson, 1862 (Black gemfish)
- Genus Paradiplospinus
- Paradiplospinus antarcticus Andriashev, 1960 (Antarctic escolar)
- Paradiplospinus gracilis (A. B. Brauer, 1906) (Slender escolar)
- Genus Promethichthys
- Promethichthys prometheus (G. Cuvier, 1832) (Roudi escolar)
- Genus Rexea
- Rexea alisae C. D. Roberts & A. L. Stewart, 1997
- Rexea antefurcata Parin, 1989 (Long-finned escolar)
- Rexea bengalensis (Alcock, 1894) (Bengal escolar)
- Rexea brevilineata Parin, 1989 (Short-lined escolar)
- Rexea nakamurai Parin, 1989 (Nakamura's escolar)
- Rexea prometheoides (Bleeker, 1856) (Royal escolar)
- Rexea solandri (G. Cuvier, 1832) (Silver gemfish)
- Genus Rexichthys
- Rexichthys johnpaxtoni Parin & Astakhov, 1987 (Paxton's escolar)
- Genus Leionura
- Leionura atun (Euphrasén, 1791) (Snoek)
- Genus Thyrsites
- Thyrsites lepidopodea (Lesson, 1831) (White snake mackerel))
- Genus Thyrsitoides
- Thyrsitoides marleyi Fowler, 1929 (Blacksail snake mackerel)
- †Thyrsitoides zarahoustrae Arambourg, 1967[3]
- Genus Tongaichthys
- Tongaichthys robustus I. Nakamura & E. Fujii, 1983 (Tonga escolar)
- Genus Diplospinus
- Subfamily Clade 2 Mthethwa, 2023
- Genus Epinnula
- Epinnula magistralis Poey, 1854
- Epinnula pacifica Ho, Motomura, Hata & Jiang, 2017
- Genus Lepidocybium
- Lepidocybium flavobrunneum (A. Smith, 1843) (Escolar)
- Genus Neoepinnula
- Neoepinnula americana (M. G. Grey, 1953) (American sackfish)
- Neoepinnula minetomai Nakayama, Y. Kimura & Endo, 2014 (Large-eyed sackfish)
- Neoepinnula orientalis (Gilchrist & von Bonde, 1924) (Sackfish)
- Genus Ruvettus
- Ruvettus pretiosus Cocco, 1833 (Oilfish)
- Genus Epinnula
The Gempylidae are broadly categorized into two clades; Clade 1, which includes more derived & elongate genera, and Clade 2, which includes more basal & fusiform genera. The Trichiuridae are an outgroup.[4]
| Scombroidei |
| ||||||
Gempylidae are believed to have first evolved at least 20 million years after the Late Cretaceus Extinction event, potentially due to tectonic plate movements.[4]
Fossil genera
The following fossil genera are known:[3][5][6]
- †Abadzekhia Bannikov, 1985 (Early Oligocene of North Caucasus, Russia and Germany)
- †Contemptor Calzoni, Giusberti & Carnevale, 2026 (Eocene of northern Italy)[7]
- †Chelifichthys Carnevale, 2006 (Late Miocene (Messinian) of Algeria)
- †Eothyrsites Chapman, 1934 (mid-late Eocene of New Zealand)
- †Hemithyrsites Daniltshenko, 1960 (Oligocene of Poland & Romania)
- †Krampusichthys Calzoni, Giusberti & Carnevale, 2025 (Early Eocene of Italy)
- †Laurinichthys Calzoni, Giusberti & Carnevale, 2025 (Early Eocene of Italy)
- †Progempylus Casier, 1966 (Early Eocene of England)
- †Thyrsitocephalus vom Rath, 1859 (Early Oligocene of Switzerland)
- †Wudelenia Calzoni, Giusberti & Carnevale, 2025 (Early Eocene of Italy)
Timeline
See also
- Euzaphlegidae, an extinct group of relatives from Paleocene to Late Miocene-aged marine strata of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains,[9] India, Iran, Turkmenistan, Italy,[10] and Southern California.[11]
References
- ^ Fricke, Ron; Eschmeyer, William N. & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Gempylidae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 23 June 2025.
- ^ Johnson, G.D.; Gill, A.C. (1998). Paxton, J.R.; Eschmeyer, W.N. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. p. 190. ISBN 0-12-547665-5.
- ^ a b "Gempylidae". paleobiodb.org. Retrieved 2024-12-04.
- ^ a b c Mthethwa, Siphesihle; Bester-van_der_Merwe, Aletta E.; Roodt-Wilding, Rouvay (June 2023). "Addressing the complex phylogenetic relationship of the Gempylidae fishes using mitogenome data". Ecology and Evolution. 13 (6) e10217. Bibcode:2023EcoEv..1310217M. doi:10.1002/ece3.10217. ISSN 2045-7758. PMC 10283032. PMID 37351481.
- ^ Rust, Seabourne; Robinson, Jeffrey H. (2024-10-19). "Revisiting Eothyrsites holosquamatus Chapman (Trichiuroidea: Gempylidae), an Eocene gemfish from the Burnside Mudstone, Dunedin, New Zealand". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 54 (5): 584–601. Bibcode:2024JRSNZ..54..584R. doi:10.1080/03036758.2023.2228211. ISSN 0303-6758. PMC 11459795. PMID 39440288.
- ^ Calzoni, Pietro; Giusberti, Luca; Carnevale, Giorgio (2025-07-29). "THE YPRESIAN FISHES OF THE SOLTERI LAGERSTÄTTE (TRENTO, NORTHERN ITALY): A GLIMPSE INTO THE EARLY EOCENE TETHYAN MESOPELAGIC ASSEMBLAGES". Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia. 131 (2) 28705. Bibcode:2025RIPS..13128705C. doi:10.54103/2039-4942/28705. hdl:11577/3557823. ISSN 2039-4942.
- ^ Calzoni, Pietro; Giusberti, Luca; Fornaciari, Eliana; Luciani, Valeria; Boscolo-Galazzo, Flavia; Bernardi, Massimo; Tomasoni, Riccardo; Carnevale, Giorgio (2026-03-04). Banerjee, Santanu (ed.). "The Ypresian ichthyofauna of the Monte Solane Lagerstätte (Verona, northern Italy): A deep dive into the western Tethys early Eocene mesopelagic setting". PLOS One. 21 (3): e0338490. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0338490. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 12959715. PMID 41779693.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: article number as page number (link) - ^ Rust, Seabourne; Robinson, Jeffrey H. (2023-07-12). "Revisiting Eothyrsites holosquamatus Chapman (Trichiuroidea: Gempylidae), an Eocene gemfish from the Burnside Mudstone, Dunedin, New Zealand". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 54 (5): 584–601. Bibcode:2024JRSNZ..54..584R. doi:10.1080/03036758.2023.2228211. ISSN 0303-6758. PMC 11459795. PMID 39440288.
- ^ Danilʹchenko, P. G. (1967). Bony fishes of the Maikop deposits of the Caucasus.
- ^ Bannikov, Alexandre F. (2008). "A new genus and species of putative euzaphlegid fish from the Eocene of Bolca in northern Italy (Periformes, Trichiuroidea)." Studi e Ricerche sui giacimenti Terziari di Bolca, XII Miscellanea Paleontologica 9: 99–107. [1]
- ^ David, Lore Rose (January 10, 1943). Miocene Fishes of Southern California. Geological Society of America. pp. 104–115.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gempylidae.
- Sepkoski, Jack (2002). "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera". Bulletins of American Paleontology. 364: 560. Archived from the original on July 23, 2011. Retrieved 2011-05-19.
- Scientia Marina - Population biology of the roudi escolar Promethichthys prometheus (Gempylidae) off the Canary Islands Archived 2012-04-28 at the Wayback Machine
- Deep water fish species - Lanzarote Archived 2020-02-08 at the Wayback Machine