Medusa fish

Medusa fish
Peprilus paru
Systematics
Sub-cohort : Neoteleostei Acanthomorphata Spinefish (Acanthopterygii) Perch relatives (Percomorphaceae) Order : Scombriformes Family : Medusa fish
Scientific name
Stromateidae
Rafinesque , 1810

The Medusa fish (Stromateidae) or harvest fish are a family of marine fish from the order Scombriformes . They live in schools in the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific , mostly near the coast over the continental slopes .

features

They have high-backed, laterally flattened bodies, which are covered by small, slightly sloping round scales. The gill covers have two short, flat spines. The fish only have one dorsal fin that has only a few hard rays . Adults do not have pelvic fins . The anal fin has two to six hard and 30 to 50 soft rays.

Medusa fish feed on jellyfish and salps . Young animals also seek shelter under the umbrella of jellyfish.

Systematics

Peprilus burti

Stromateus fiatola

Within the Stromateidae, three recent genera with around 20 species are distinguished:

• Pampus Bonaparte , 1834
  • Pampus argenteus (Euphrasen, 1788)
  • Pampus candidus (Cuvier, 1833)
  • Pampus chinensis (Euphrasen, 1788)
  • Pampus cinereus ( Bloch , 1795)
  • Pampus echinogaster (Basilewsky, 1855)
  • Pampus liuorum Liu & Li, 2013
  • Pampus minor Liu & Li, 1998
  • Pampus punctatissimus ( Temminck & Schlegel , 1845)
• Peprilus Cuvier , 1829
  • Peprilus burti Fowler, 1944
  • Peprilus crenulatus Cuvier, 1829
  • Peprilus medius (Peters, 1869)
  • Peprilus ovatus Horn, 1970
  • Peprilus paru ( Linnaeus , 1758)
  • Peprilus simillimus (Ayres, 1860)
  • Peprilus snyderi Gilbert & Starks, 1904
  • Peprilus triacanthus (Peck, 1804)
  • Peprilus xanthurus (Quoy & Gaimard, 1825)
• Stromateus Linnaeus, 1758
  • Stromateus brasiliensis Fowler, 1906
  • Blue butterfish ( Stromateus fiatola Linnaeus, 1758 )
  • Stromateus stellatus Cuvier , 1829

Fossil record

With Pinichthys pulcher from the lower Oligocene of the North Caucasus, a fossil medusa fish is also known.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Karl Albert Frickhinger: Fossil Atlas of Fishes. Mergus - Verlag für Natur- und Heimtierkunde Baensch, Melle 1991, ISBN 3-88244-018-X .

literature

• Joseph S. Nelson : Fishes of the World. 4th edition. John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken NJ et al. 2006, ISBN 0-471-25031-7 .
• Kurt Fiedler: Fish (= textbook of special zoology. Vol. 2: Vertebrates. Part. 2). Gustav Fischer, Jena 1991, ISBN 3-334-00338-8 .

Web links

Commons : Medusa fish  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Medusa fish on Fishbase.org (English)