Louvar
Encyclopedia
The louvar or luvar, Luvarus imperialis, is a species of perciform fish, the only extant species in the genus Luvarus and family Luvaridae. Other species and genera are only known from fossils dating back to the Paleogene
. It is closely related to the surgeonfish. The juvenile form has a pair of spines near the base of the tail, like the surgeonfish, though they are lost in the adult.
It is a big ellipsoidal fish, growing to two meters in length. It is pink in color and possesses a characteristic bulging forehead.
It is found in surface waters of temperate and tropical oceans throughout the world. It feeds on jellyfish
, ctenophore
s and other soft-bodied plankton
ic animals.
Paleogene
The Paleogene is a geologic period and system that began 65.5 ± 0.3 and ended 23.03 ± 0.05 million years ago and comprises the first part of the Cenozoic Era...
. It is closely related to the surgeonfish. The juvenile form has a pair of spines near the base of the tail, like the surgeonfish, though they are lost in the adult.
It is a big ellipsoidal fish, growing to two meters in length. It is pink in color and possesses a characteristic bulging forehead.
It is found in surface waters of temperate and tropical oceans throughout the world. It feeds on jellyfish
Jellyfish
Jellyfish are free-swimming members of the phylum Cnidaria. Medusa is another word for jellyfish, and refers to any free-swimming jellyfish stages in the phylum Cnidaria...
, ctenophore
Ctenophore
The Ctenophora are a phylum of animals that live in marine waters worldwide. Their most distinctive feature is the "combs", groups of cilia that they use for swimming, and they are the largest animals that swim by means of cilia – adults of various species range from a few millimeters to in size...
s and other soft-bodied plankton
Plankton
Plankton are any drifting organisms that inhabit the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water. That is, plankton are defined by their ecological niche rather than phylogenetic or taxonomic classification...
ic animals.
Extinct Louvar Taxa
- Luvarus necopinatusLuvarus necopinatusLuvarus necopinatus is a species of extinct louvar that lived in the Tethys Ocean during the early Paleogene. It differs from the modern species, L. imperialis, in that L...
- AvitoluvarusAvitoluvarusAvitoluvarus is a genus of extinct louvar that lived in the Tethys Ocean during the early Paleogene. The first specimens were found from the Danata Formation Lagerstätten, of the Thanetian epoch of Turkmenistan, where they were originally thought to be smaller or juvenile individuals of the true...
sp - KushlukiaKushlukiaKushlukia is an extinct genus of prehistoric bony fish, closely related to the luvar, that lived during the lower Eocene. K. permira is from Eocene portion of the Danata Formation Lagerstatten , of Turkmenistan...
sp (sister taxon of Luvaridae)