Carangiformes
TaxonCarangiformes
AuthorityJordan, 1923[1]
Type speciesCaranx praeustus
Anonymous [ Bennett ], 1830

Carangiformes is a large and diverse order of ray-finned fishes within the clade Percomorpha. It is part of a sister clade to the Ovalentaria, alongside its sister group, the Anabantaria (including Anabantiformes and Synbranchiformes).[citation needed] The order includes ecologically diverse groups such as the jacks and trevallies, flatfishes, barracudas, billfishes, and archerfishes.

The Carangiformes has traditionally been regarded as a monotypic order with only the family Carangidae within it by taxonomic authorities; other families currently part of the order were previously classified as part of the wider order Perciformes. The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classify six families within Carangiformes,[2] with more recent authorities expanding the order to include up to 30 families, based on phylogenetic evidence.[3]

Description

While the expanded order Carangiformes is primarily defined by molecular data, the core group (suborder Carangoidei) shares specific synapomorphies:

Most carangiforms are medium to large-sized predatory fish, ranging from 22 cm (8.7 in) to 2.5 m (8.2 ft) in length.[citation needed] Body shapes vary from slender and fusiform (e.g., barracudas, cobia) to deep-bodied and laterally compressed (e.g., trevallies, moonfish, flatfishes). Most species are marine, inhabiting primarily tropical and subtropical waters, though some are able to live in freshwater during certain parts of their lives (giant trevally, all archerfish), and some live entirely in freshwater (river tonguesole).

Classification

The order Carangiformes has historically been either subsumed within Perciformes or used exclusively for the families in the suborder Carangoidei (Carangidae, Coryphaenidae, Rachycentridae, Echeneidae, and Nematistiidae). However, recent genetic studies have redefined the group to resolve the paraphyly of Perciformes, incorporating many more groups such as the highly specialized flatfishes.

The earliest known carangiform fossils are species of the moonfish genus Mene from the Late Paleocene of Peru and Tunisia.[5]

Taxonomy

The following classification follows Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes (2025):[6]

The following fossil families are also known:[7]

Phylogenies

The following cladogram is based on a 2023 phylogenetic analysis which studied the UCEs of various marine fish:[10]

Internal relationships of Carangoidei

Within the suborder Carangoidei, Coryphaenidae, Rachycentridae, and Echeneidae have been suggested to comprise a monophyletic grouping (dubbed "Echeneoidea"),[11] which has been recovered as a sister clade to the Carangidae.[12] Additionally, the family Carangidae is paraphyletic in the traditional sense; the "Echeneoidea" clade are more closely related to two carangid subfamilies (Scomberoidinae and Trachinotinae) than they are to the other two subfamilies (Naucratinae and Caranginae). This has been consistently found by studies, which propose the elevation of the subfamily Trachinotinae into the family Trachinotidae to reflect this finding.[11][10]

The following cladogram is based on Girard et al.'s 2020 study of UCEs and morphology:[11]

The following cladogram is based on a 2023 phylogenetic analysis which studied the UCEs of various marine fish:[10]

References

  1. ^ "Taxon: Order Carangiformes Jordan, 1923 (fish)". Taxonomicon. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  2. ^ J. S. Nelson; T. C. Grande; M. V. H. Wilson (2016). Fishes of the World. 5th ed. Wiley. pp. 380–383. ISBN 978-1-118-34233-6. Archived 2019-04-08 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
  3. ^ Girard, Matthew G.; Davis, Matthew P.; Smith, W. Leo (2020-05-08). "The Phylogeny of Carangiform Fishes: Morphological and Genomic Investigations of a New Fish Clade". Copeia. 108 (2): 265. doi:10.1643/CI-19-320. ISSN 0045-8511
  4. ^ E. O. Wiley & G. David Johnson: A teleost classification based on monophyletic groups. Joseph S. Nelson, Hans-Peter Schultze & Mark V. H. Wilson: Origin and Phylogenetic Interrelationships of Teleosts. Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, München 2010, ISBN 978-3-89937-107-9
  5. ^ Friedman, Matt; V. Andrews, James; Saad, Hadeel; El-Sayed, Sanaa (2023-06-16). "The Cretaceous–Paleogene transition in spiny-rayed fishes: surveying "Patterson's Gap" in the acanthomorph skeletal record André Dumont medalist lecture 2018". Geologica Belgica. doi:10.20341/gb.2023.002. ISSN 1374-8505
  6. ^ "Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes Classification - California Academy of Sciences". www.calacademy.org. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
  7. ^ Friedman, Matt; V. Andrews, James; Saad, Hadeel; El-Sayed, Sanaa (2023-06-16). "The Cretaceous–Paleogene transition in spiny-rayed fishes: surveying "Patterson's Gap" in the acanthomorph skeletal record André Dumont medalist lecture 2018". Geologica Belgica. doi:10.20341/gb.2023.002. ISSN 1374-8505
  8. ^ Rust, Seabourne; Wium, Morne; Otero, Rodrigo A.; Terezow, Marianna (2026-02-01). "Fossil billfish (Xiphioidei) from the Eocene of Hampden, North Otago, New Zealand". Gondwana Research. 150: 301–311. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2025.09.021. ISSN 1342-937X
  9. ^ Friedman, Matt; Johanson, Zerina; Harrington, Richard C.; Near, Thomas J.; Graham, Mark R. (2013-09-07). "An early fossil remora (Echeneoidea) reveals the evolutionary assembly of the adhesion disc". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 280 (1766). doi:10.1098/rspb.2013.1200. PMC 3730593. PMID 23864599
  10. ^ "Widespread sympatry in a species-rich clade of marine fishes (Carangoidei)". Proceedings of the Royal Society Biological Sciences. 290 (2010). 1 Nov 2023. doi:10.1098/rspb.2023.0657
  11. ^ Girard, Matthew G.; Davis, Matthew P.; Smith, W. Leo (2020-05-08). "The Phylogeny of Carangiform Fishes: Morphological and Genomic Investigations of a New Fish Clade". Copeia. 108 (2): 265. doi:10.1643/CI-19-320. ISSN 0045-8511
  12. ^ J. S. Nelson; T. C. Grande; M. V. H. Wilson (2016). Fishes of the World. 5th ed. Wiley. pp. 380–383. ISBN 978-1-118-34233-6. Archived 2019-04-08 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2019-11-15.