Saccopharyngiformes

Pelikanaal ( Eurypharynx pelecanoides )

The Pelikanaalartigen ( Saccopharyngoidei ) or bag -like mouth are a subordination of the eel-like, which have the life in the deep sea specially adapted.

Features

In addition to its huge mouth, the body of the animals appears to be very small. The fish are scaleless, there is no swim bladder, no ribs and no tail fin. In many skull bones are reduced or disappeared. It is difficult to compare the remaining skeleton with the other fish and so close to family. The fact that the larvae are similar to those of eels, indicates kinship with them. There are no fossils of Pelikanaalartigen.

Outer systematics

The Pelikanaalartigen were originally performed as a separate order, the Saccopharyngiformes. However, phylogenetically they are well within the eel-like ( Anguilliformes ). In a recent revision of the Teleostei - hierarchy, they are therefore implemented as a subordination of the eel-like. The probable kinship relations are the following simplified cladogram again:

Other families of the Anguilliformes

Eels ( Moringuidae )

Pelikanaalartige ( Saccopharyngoidei )

Schnepfenaale ( Nemichthyidae )

Sawtooth Schnepfenaale ( Serrivomeridae )

Eels ( Anguillidae )

Families

The submission consists of four families and about 30 species.

• Stummelschwanzaale ( Cyematidae )
• Pelikanaale ( Eurypharyngidae )
• Einkieferaale ( Monognathidae )
• Bag mouths ( Saccopharyngidae )