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Pearlfish

 
Pearlfish

 
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Pearlfish
 
 
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"Pearlfish" is also used for some Rivulidae
Rivulidae

Rivulidae are a family of killifishes in the order Cyprinodontiformes. They are commonly known as rivulids, South American killifish or New World killifish....
, unrelated American
Americas

The Americas are the region of the Western hemisphere that consists of the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions....
 freshwater
Freshwater

Freshwater is a word that refers to bodies of water such as ponds, lakes, rivers and streams containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids....
 killifish
Killifish

A killifish is any of various tiny, oviparous cyprinodontiformes . All in all there are some 1270 different species of killifish, the biggest family being Rivulidae, containing more than 320 species....
.


Pearlfish is a general name for a variety of marine
Marine (ocean)

Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology....
 fish species in the Carapidae family
Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is a taxonomic rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Codes which applies....
. Pearlfish have been found in tropical waters of the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
, Indian
Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean ....
, and Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
s at depths up to along oceanic shelves and slopes.

Pearflish are slender fish, distinguished by having dorsal fin
Dorsal fin

A wikt:dorsal fin is a fin located on the backs of some fish, whales, dolphins, and porpoises, as well as the ichthyosaurs. Its main purpose is to stabilize the animal against rolling and assist in sudden turns....
 rays that are shorter than their anal fin rays.






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Encyclopedia


"Pearlfish" is also used for some Rivulidae
Rivulidae

Rivulidae are a family of killifishes in the order Cyprinodontiformes. They are commonly known as rivulids, South American killifish or New World killifish....
, unrelated American
Americas

The Americas are the region of the Western hemisphere that consists of the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions....
 freshwater
Freshwater

Freshwater is a word that refers to bodies of water such as ponds, lakes, rivers and streams containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids....
 killifish
Killifish

A killifish is any of various tiny, oviparous cyprinodontiformes . All in all there are some 1270 different species of killifish, the biggest family being Rivulidae, containing more than 320 species....
.


Pearlfish is a general name for a variety of marine
Marine (ocean)

Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology....
 fish species in the Carapidae family
Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is a taxonomic rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Codes which applies....
. Pearlfish have been found in tropical waters of the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
, Indian
Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean ....
, and Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
s at depths up to along oceanic shelves and slopes.

Pearflish are slender fish, distinguished by having dorsal fin
Dorsal fin

A wikt:dorsal fin is a fin located on the backs of some fish, whales, dolphins, and porpoises, as well as the ichthyosaurs. Its main purpose is to stabilize the animal against rolling and assist in sudden turns....
 rays that are shorter than their anal fin rays. They have translucent, scaleless bodies reminiscent of eel
Eel

True eels are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 19 Family s, 110 genera and approximately 600 species. Most eels are predators....
s. The largest pearlfish are about in length. They reproduce by laying oval-shaped eggs, about 1 millimeter in length.

Pearlfish are unusual in that the adults of most species live inside various types of invertebrate
Invertebrate

An invertebrate is an animal lacking a vertebral column. The group includes 98% of all animal species ? all animals except those in the Chordate subphylum vertebrate ....
. Typically, they live inside clam
Clam

Clam is a word which can be used for all, some, or only a few species of bivalve mollusks; the word is a common name which has no real Taxonomy significance in biology....
s, starfish or sea squirts, and are simply commensal, not harming their hosts. However, some species are known to be parasitic on sea cucumber
Sea cucumber

Holothuroidea is a class of marine animals with an elongated body and leathery skin, which is found on the sea floor worldwide. Many holothurian species and genera, informally known as sea cucumbers, are targeted for human consumption....
s, eating their gonad
Gonad

The gonad is the organ that makes gametes. The gonads in males are the testes and the gonads in females are the ovaries. The product, gametes, are haploid germ cells....
s. Regardless of the habits of the adults, 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 of pearlfish are free-living among the plankton
Plankton

Plankton consist of any drifting organisms that inhabit the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water. Plankton are defined by their ecological niche rather than their Phylogenetics or taxonomy classification....
. Pearlfish larvae can be distinguished by the presence of a long filament in front of their dorsal fin
Dorsal fin

A wikt:dorsal fin is a fin located on the backs of some fish, whales, dolphins, and porpoises, as well as the ichthyosaurs. Its main purpose is to stabilize the animal against rolling and assist in sudden turns....
, sometimes with various appendages attached.

Classification


The genera
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 are divided into three major groupings based on their level of symbiosis
Symbiosis

The term symbiosis commonly describes close and often long-term interactions between different biological species. The term was first used in 1879 by the Germany mycology Heinrich Anton de Bary, who defined it as "the living together of unlike organisms"....
:
  • Echiodon and Snyderidia - Free-living
  • Carapus and Onuxodon - Commensal
  • Encheliophis - Parasitic: Fish in this group live in invertebrate hosts found in shallow-water coral
    Coral

    Corals are marine organisms from the class Anthozoa and exist as small sea anemone?like polyps, typically in colonies of many identical individuals....
     communities such as bivalves, sea cucumbers, and starfish.


Pearlfish are currently divided into 7 genera
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 and 31 species:

  • Genus Carapus
    • Carapus acus
    • Carapus bermudensis
    • Carapus boraborensis
    • Carapus dubius
    • Carapus mourlani
    • Carapus sluiteri
  • Genus Echiodon
    • Echiodon anchipterus
    • Echiodon atopus
    • Echiodon coheni
    • Echiodon cryomargarites
    • Echiodon dawsoni
    • Echiodon dentatus
    • Echiodon drummondii
    • Echiodon exsilium
    • Echiodon neotes
    • Echiodon pegasus
    • Echiodon pukaki
    • Echiodon rendahli
      Echiodon rendahli

      Echiodon rendahli is a pearlfish of the family Carapidae, found in the south west Pacific oceans around Australia and New Zealand at depths down to 60 m....
       (Whitley, 1941)
  • Genus Encheliophis
    • Encheliophis chardewalli
    • Encheliophis gracilis
    • Encheliophis homei
    • Encheliophis sagamianus
    • Encheliophis vermicularis
    • Encheliophis vermiops
  • Genus Eurypleuron
    • Eurypleuron cinereum
    • Eurypleuron owasianum
  • Genus Onuxodon
    • Onuxodon fowleri
    • Onuxodon margaritiferae
    • Onuxodon parvibrachium
  • Genus Pyramodon
    • Pyramodon lindas
    • Pyramodon parini
    • Pyramodon punctatus
    • Pyramodon ventralis
      Pyramodon ventralis

      Pyramodon ventralis is a pearlfish of the family Carapidae, found in the Indo-western Pacific oceans at depths of between 100 and 400 metre. Its length is between 25 and 30 cm....
       Smith & Radcliffe, 1913
  • Genus Snyderidia
    • Snyderidia canina