Family ATHERIONIDAE

Atherion elymus

© Copyright Chloe Lesley Starks in Jordan & Starks 1901

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Introduction

The family is often included as a subfamily of the Atherinidae. Nelson (2006) separated the genus Atherion from the Atherinidae into the family Atherionidae. Other workers (Sparks & Smith 2004) also recognise the family and we treat it separately. Bloom et al. (2012) did not include the species in their analysis of the relationships within atheriniform fishes.

As recognised here the family includes a single Indo-west Pacific genus and three species, with two species known from Australia. The species are tropical or subtropical found around in marine waters, often associated with coral or rocky reefs.

General References

Bloom, D.D., Unmack, P.J., Gosztonyi, A.E., Piller, K.R. & Lovejoy, N.R. 2012. It's a family matter: Molecular phylogenetics of Atheriniformes and the polyphyly of the surf silversides (Family: Notocheiridae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 62: 1025-1030

Jordan, D.S. & Starks, E.C. 1901. A review of the atherine fishes of Japan. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 24(1250): 199-206 figs 1-4 [fig. 3]

Nelson, J.S. 2006. Fishes of the World. Hoboken, New Jersey : John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 601 pp.

Sparks, J.S. & Smith, W.L. 2004. Phylogeny and biogeography of the Malagasy and Australasian rainbowfishes (Teleostei: Melanotaenioidei): Gondwanan vicariance and evolution in freshwater. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 33: 719–734

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