Thalasseleotrididae
Thalasseleotrididae | ||||||||||||
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Grahamichthys radiata |
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Systematics | ||||||||||||
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Scientific name | ||||||||||||
Thalasseleotrididae | ||||||||||||
Gill & Mooi , 2012 |
The Thalasseleotrididae are a fish family newly established in 2012 from the order of the goby-like (Gobiiformes). The three species of the Thalasseleotrididae live in the sea and occur on the coast of South Australia and New Zealand at depths of up to 50 meters.
features
The only synapomorphism and thus the diagnostic feature that defines the family is a membrane that connects the hyoid bone with the ceratobranchial 1 (pharynx).
The fish belonging to the Thalasseleotrididae have a typical goby shape with a thick head, two dorsal fins, ventral fins positioned far forward and an elongated body with a round cross-section. They are only 3.3 to 6.5 cm long.
In comparison with the sleeper gobies (Eleotridae), to which the three species were previously counted, the Thalasseleotrididae lack some bones in the shoulder girdle and the gill skeleton. These features were discovered in the 1960s and 1980s by the ichthyologist , then heir to the throne and later Tennō of Japan, Akihito , but their meaning was not fully recognized.
External system
The reason for the new assignment of the three species is their sister group relationship with the gobies (Gobiidae), which is justified with five synapomorphies regarding the skull, gill and shoulder girdle morphology.
Internal system
There are three types in two genera :
- Genus Grahamichthys
- Grahamichthys radiata Valenciennes, 1837
- Genus Thalasseleotris
- Thalasseleotris adela Hoese & Larson, 1987
- Thalasseleotris iota Hoese & Roberts, 2005
literature
- Anthony C. Gill & Randall D. Mooi (2012): Thalasseleotrididae, new family of marine gobioid fishes from New Zealand and temperate Australia, with a revised definition of its sister taxon, the Gobiidae (Teleostei: Acanthomorpha). Zootaxa , 3266: 41-52. PDF