Cetomimiformes

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Cetomimiformes

The Cetomimiformes or whalefishes are an order of small, deep-sea ray-finned fish. Some authorities include the whalefishes as part of the order Stephanoberyciformes

Stephanoberyciformes

The Stephanoberyciformes are an order of marine ray-finned fishes, consisting of about 45 species, the majority of which belong to the ridgehead family ....
, within the superfamily Cetomimoidea. Their sister order, the Beryciformes

Beryciformes

Beryciformes is an order of ray-finned fishes. This is a very poorly understood group of 16 families, 57 genera, and about 219 species. Most believe that it is probably an artificial assemblage of unrelated taxa that are thrown together for convenience only; there are no convincing characteristics that tie all members together....
, includes the flashlight fish

Flashlight fish

The flashlight fish are a family, the Anomalopidae, of Beryciformes fish. There are some unrelated fish with similar features, some of which are also called flashlight fish....
and squirrelfish.

Within this group are five families and approximately 18 genera (but see below). Thought to have a circumglobal distribution throughout the tropical and temperate latitude

Latitude

Latitude, usually denoted symbolically by the Greek letter phi gives the location of a place on Earth north or south of the equator. Lines of Latitude are the horizontal lines shown running east-to-west on maps ....
s, whalefishes have been recorded at depths in excess of 3,500 metres.

d after their whale-shaped body (from the Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
ketos meaning "whale" or "sea monster", mimos meaning "imitative" and the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
forma meaning "form"), the Cetomimiformes have extremely large mouths and highly distensible stomachs.

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Encyclopedia

The Cetomimiformes or whalefishes are an order of small, deep-sea ray-finned fish. Some authorities include the whalefishes as part of the order Stephanoberyciformes

Stephanoberyciformes

Beryciformes

Flashlight fish

Latitude

Description

Named after their whale-shaped body (from the Greek

Greek language

Latin

Lateral line

In aquatic organisms , the lateral line is a sense organ used to detect movement and vibration in the surrounding water. Lateral lines are usually visible as faint lines running lengthwise down each side, from the vicinity of the Operculum s to the base of the tail....
(composed of huge, hollow tubes) is consequently very well developed to compensate for life in the pitch black depths.

The dorsal and anal fins are set far back of the head; all fins lack spines. The swim bladder is also absent, except in the larva

Larva

A larva is a young form of animal with indirect developmental biology, going through or undergoing metamorphosis .The larva can look completely different from the adult form, for example, a caterpillar differs from a butterfly....
e and juvenile

Juvenile

Juvenile may refer to:*Juvenile or minor*Juvenile , American musician*Juvenile *Juvenile , a Japanese movie*"The Juvenile", a song by Jonas Berggren...
s which occur in the surface waters. Whalefish coloration is typically red to orange, sometimes with a black body. Some species possess light-producing organs called photophore

Photophore

A photophore is a light-emitting organ which appears as luminescence spots on various marine animals, including fish and cephalopods. The organ can be simple, or as complex as the human eye; equipped with lenses, shutters, color filters and reflectors ....
s; these are typical of deep-sea fishes.

The largest known species reach a length of just 40 centimetres; most species are half this size. Sexual dimorphism

Sexual dimorphism

Sexual dimorphism is the systematic difference in form between individuals of different sex in the same species. Examples include color , size, and the presence or absence of parts of the body used in courtship displays or fights, such as ornamental feathers, horns, antlers or tusks....
is (apparently) exceptionally strong: males may only grow to 3.5 centimetres while females may be ten times as large. This is not uncommon among deep-sea fishes, with the males serving little use other than as suppliers of sperm: an even more extreme case are the parasitic males in deep-sea anglerfish

Anglerfish

Anglerfish are the members of the order Lophiiformes. They are Osteichthyes named for their characteristic mode of predation, wherein a fleshy growth from the fish's head acts as a Aggressive_mimicry#Food_as_an_attractant; this is considered analogous to angling....
.

Families

Cetomimidae — flabby whalefishes
Rondeletiidae — redmouth whalefishes
Barbourisiidae — velvet whalefish (monotypic
Monotypic

In biology, a monotype is a alpha taxonomy group with only one biological type:In botany, a monotype is a taxon that has only one species: Ginkgo is a monotypic genus, while Ginkgoaceae is a monotypic family ....
)

The gibberfishes (Gibberichthyidae) on the other hand, usually placed in the Stephanoberyciformes

Stephanoberyciformes

The Stephanoberyciformes are an order of marine ray-finned fishes, consisting of about 45 species, the majority of which belong to the ridgehead family ....
sensu stricto, appear to be close relatives of the Rondeletiidae and Barbourisiidae, as has been occasionally proposed.Paxton et al. (2001)

Cetomimiformes

Description

Families

Footnotes

External links