Anoplopomatidae
family of fishes
Anoplopomatidae, the sablefishes, are a small family of ray-finned fishes classified within the order Perciformes. These fishes are found in the North Pacific Ocean.
Taxonomy
Anoplopomatidae was first proposed as a family in 1883 by the American ichthyologists David Starr Jordan and Charles Henry Gilbert. In 1965 Jay C. Quast proposed that the sablefishes were so different from other members of the Cottoidei that they should be classified within their own superfamily, the Anoplopomatoidea. The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies this superfamily within the suborder Cottoidei of the order Scorpaeniformes. However, other authorities place it within the infraorder Anoplopomatales which is close to the infraorder Zoarcales at the base of the Cottoidei within the order Perciformes.
Genera
Anoplopomatidae contains two monospecific genera:
Anoplopoma Ayres, 1859
Erilepis Gill, 1894
Characteristics
Anoplopomatidae fishes have heads which lack spines, ridges, or cirri. They have two dorsal fins, the second dorsal fin having between 16 and 21 soft rays. The anal fin has three weak spines and between 11 and 19 soft rays. Their pelvic fins have a single spine and 5 soft rays, There are two well-developed nostrils on either side of the snout.
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This entry incorporates text from “Anoplopomatidae” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.