Gempylidae

Atun thyrsites

The snake mackerel ( Gempylidae ) are a family of predatory fish from the group of relatives perch ( Percomorpha ). They live in the warmer parts of the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian Ocean and in the Mediterranean, in the deeper zones below 100 meters. At night they migrate upstream.

Features

Snake mackerel have an elongated, flattened or spindle-shaped body. The front fanged mouth column reaches up to the eyes, the lower jaw of the pointed snout is slightly ahead. The mouth is not vorstülpbar (not protaktil ). The teeth are long, the large gill slits.

The first, supported by hard jets dorsal fin is long, the second with soft rays is much shorter in many species. The caudal fin is forked, the pelvic fins are small or absent, the anal fin is the second dorsal fin opposite symmetrical, but may be absent. The anal fin is supported by three spines and 8-35 soft rays. As is typical of mackerel fish, the animals have small fins between the second dorsal and anal fin and the caudal fin. The pectoral fins set at high. The back is blue or brown, the sides silvery. The 22 centimeters to 2 meters long animals are fast predators that feed on other fish, crabs and squid. The flesh of the snake mackerel is oily.

System

There are 24 species in 16 genera.

  • Diplospinus Diplospinus multistriatus Maul, 1948.
  • Epinnula magistral Poey, 1854.
  • Gempylus serpens Cuvier, in 1829.
  • Lepidocybium flavo (Smith, 1843).
  • Nealotus tripes Johnson, 1865.
  • Neoepinnula americana ( Grey, 1953).
  • Neoepinnula orientalis ( Gilchrist & von Bonde, 1924).
  • Black pike head ( Nesiarchus nasutus ) Johnson, 1862.
  • Paradiplospinus antarcticus Andriashev, 1960.
  • Paradiplospinus gracilis ( Brauer, 1906).
  • Rexea alisae Roberts & Stewart, 1997.
  • Rexea antefurcata Parin, 1989.
  • Rexea bengalensis ( Alcock, 1894).
  • Rexea brevilineata Parin, 1989.
  • Rexea nakamurai Parin, 1989.
  • Rexea prometheoides ( Bleeker, 1856).
  • Rexea solandri ( Cuvier, 1832).
  • Rexichthys johnpaxtoni Parin & Astakhov, 1987.
  • Ruvettus pretiosus Cocco, 1833.
  • Thyrsites atun ( Euphrasen, 1791).
  • Thyrsitoides marleyi Fowler, 1929.
  • Thyrsitops lepidopoides ( Cuvier, 1832).
  • Tongaichthys robustus Nakamura & Fujii, 1983.

Fossil record

With Epinnula cancellata from the lower Oligocene of Iran and Hemithyrsites maicopicus from the lower Miocene of Azerbaijan, two fossil snake mackerel are known.

Acanthomorpha Genus Felipe Poey Alfred William Alcock Pieter Bleeker Joseph S. Nelson FishBase
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