Carangiformes


Carangiformes is a large and diverse order of ray-finned fishes within the clade Percomorpha. It is part of a sister clade to the Ovalentaria, alongside its sister group, the Anabantaria. The order includes ecologically diverse groups such as the jacks and trevallies, flatfishes, barracudas, billfishes, and archerfishes.
The Carangiformes have been long regarded as a monotypic order with only the family Carangidae within it by some authorities, and the other current families within the order have been previously classified as part of the wider order Perciformes. The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classify six families within Carangiformes, with more recent authorities expanding the order to include up to 30 families, based on phylogenetic evidence.

Characteristics

While the expanded order Carangiformes is primarily defined by molecular data, the core group shares specific synapomorphies:
  • One or two tubular ossifications extending from the nasal bone, a trait shared with the archerfishes.
  • Small, adherent cycloid scales.
Most carangiforms are medium to large-sized carnivorous predators, ranging from to in length. Body shapes vary from slender and fusiform to deep-bodied and laterally compressed. All species are marine, inhabiting primarily tropical and subtropical waters.

Taxonomy and phylogeny

The order Carangiformes has historically been either subsumed within Perciformes or used exclusively for the families in the suborder Carangoidei. However, recent genetic studies have redefined the group to resolve the paraphyly of Perciformes, incorporating many more groups such as the highly specialized flatfishes.
The earliest known carangiforms are species of the moonfish genus Mene from the Late Paleocene of Peru and Tunisia.

Internal relationships of Carangoidei

Within the suborder Carangoidei, the family Carangidae is paraphyletic. Two of its subfamilies are more closely related to the "Echeneoidea" clade than they are to the other carangid subfamilies. This relationship is illustrated in the cladogram below based on Girard et al. :

Classification

The following classification follows Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes :
The Coryphaenidae, Rachycentridae, and Echeneidae have been suggested to comprise a monophyletic grouping, which has been recovered as a sister clade to the Carangidae. A basal member of this clade is thought to be from the early Eocene.
The following fossil families are also known:
  • Order Carangiformes
  • * ?Family †Pygaeidae Jordan, 1905
  • * Suborder Pleuronectoidei
  • ** Family †Amphistiidae Boulenger, 1902
  • ** Family †Joleaudichthyidae Chabanaud, 1937
  • * Suborder Menoidei
  • ** Family †Palaeorhynchidae Günther, 1880
  • ** Family †Hemingwayidae Sytchevskaya & Prokofiev, 2002
  • ** Family †Blochiidae Bleeker, 1859
  • ** Family †Xiphiorhynchidae Regan, 1909
  • * Suborder Carangoidei
  • ** Family †Ductoridae Blot, 1969
  • ** Family †Opisthomyzonidae Jordan, 1923