Family ACROPOMATIDAE

Museums

Regional Maps

External Links

Introduction

Members of the Acropomatidae are commonly found on the continental shelf and slope worldwide. As recognised here, the family contains 10 genera and at least 37 species (Schwarzhans et al. 2017). Six genera and 18 described species are known from Australia.

Species included here have been variously placed in the families Percichthyidae and Apogonidae. Acropomatids are separated on the basis of having separate or nearly separate dorsal fins. Roberts (1993) placed Polyprion and Stereolepis in the family Polyprionidae, and Carpenter (1999) suggested that Polyprion, often included here, be separated into its own family. More recently, Nelson (2006) has also assigned Polyprion and Stereolepis to Polyprionidae.

The genus Howella, previously included here (see Paxton et al. 2006) is removed from this family following Roberts (1993), Prokofiev (2007) and Gomon (2008) and placed in Howellidae. Similarly, following Roberts (1993) and Roberts & Gomon (2008) Polyprion is placed in the family Polyprionidae.

Sanciangco et al (2016) suggested that the family was not monophyletic, with 3 distinct lineages. We follow Schwarzhans & Prokofiev (2017) in retaining the group pending further studies.

 

General References

Carpenter, K. 1999. Family Acropomatidae. pp. 2436-2437 in Carpenter, K.E. & Niem, T.H. (eds). The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fisheries Purposes. Rome : FAO Vol. 4 pp. 2069-2790.

Gomon, M.F. 2008. Families Epigonidae, Howellidae and Sillaginidae. pp. 561-569 in Gomon, M.F., Bray, D.J. & Kuiter, R.H. (eds). Fishes of Australia's Southern Coast. Sydney : Reed New Holland 928 pp.

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

Nelson, J.S., Grande, T.C. & Wilson, M.V.H. 2016. Fishes of the World. Hoboken, New Jersey : John Wiley & Sons 5, 752 pp.

Okamoto, M., Randall, J.E. & Motomura, H. 2021. Acropoma musorstom, a new lanternbelly (Acropomatidae) from the South Pacific and the first record of Acropoma splendens from the Andaman Sea off southwestern Thailand. Ichthyological Research 68(4): 517-528 [Date published 23 Feb. 2021]

Okamoto, M., Williams, J.T., Carpenter, K.E., Santos, M.D & Kimura, S. 2019. Description of a new species of the genus Acropoma (Acropomatidae) from the Arafura Sea with a redescription of Acropoma leobergi Prokofiev 2018 and the first record of Acropoma boholensis Yamanoue and Matsuura 2002 from the South China Sea. Ichthyological Research 67(1): 39-49 [Date published 5 June 2019]

Paxton, J.R., Gates, J.E. & Hoese, D.F. 2006. Family Acropomatidae. pp. 975-979 in Hoese, D.F., Bray, D.J., Paxton, J.R. & Allen, G.R. Fishes. In, Beesley, P.L. & Wells, A. (eds) Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Vol. 35. Volume 35 Australia : ABRS & CSIRO Publishing Parts 1-3, 2178 pp.

Prokofiev, A.M. 2007. Osteology and some other morphological characters of Howella sherborni, with a discussion of the systematic position of the genus (Perciformes, Percoidei). Journal of Ichthyology 47(6): 413–426 [appeared simultaneously in Russian in Voprosy Ikhtiologii 47(4):437-450]

Radcliffe, L. 1912. Descriptions of fifteen new fishes of the family Cheilodipteridae, from the Philippine Islands and contiguous waters. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 41(1868): 431-446 figs 34-38 [pl. 38, fig. 2]

Roberts, C.D. 1993. Comparative morphology of spined scales and their phylogenetic significance in the Teleostei. Bulletin of Marine Science 52(1): 60-113

Roberts, C.D. & Gomon, M.F. 2008. Families Polyprionidae, Serranidae and Callanthiidae. pp. 534-549 in Gomon, M.F., Bray, D.J. & Kuiter, R.H. (eds). Fishes of Australia's Southern Coast. Sydney : Reed New Holland 928 pp.

Sanciangco, M.D., Carpenter, K.E. & Betancour-R, R. 2016. Phylogenetic placement of enigmatic percomorph families (Teleostei: Percomorphaceae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 94(B): 565–576

Schwarzhans, W.W. & Prokofiev, A.M. 2017. Reappraisal of Synagrops Günther, 1887 with rehabilitation and revision of Parascombrops Alcock, 1889 including description of seven new species and two new genera (Perciformes: Acropomatidae). Zootaxa 4260: 1-74

Yamanoue, Y. 2016. Revision of the genus Verilus (Perciformes: Acropomatidae) with a description of a new species. Journal of Fish Biology 89(5): 2375-2398 [online 8 September 2016]

 

Common Name References

Carpenter, K. 1999. Family Acropomatidae. pp. 2436-2437 in Carpenter, K.E. & Niem, T.H. (eds). The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fisheries Purposes. Rome : FAO Vol. 4 pp. 2069-2790. [2436] (Lanternbellies, Splitfins, Temperate Ocean-basses)

Sainsbury, K.J., Kailola, P.J. & Leyland, G.G. 1984. Continental Shelf Fishes of Northern and North-Western Australia. Canberra : Fisheries Information Service 375 pp. figs & pls. [154] (Bass)

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
05-Aug-2022	ACROPOMATIDAE	04-Jun-2022	MODIFIED	Dr Doug Hoese (AM)
01-Feb-2019	ACROPOMATIDAE	30-Jan-2019	MODIFIED	Dr Doug Hoese (AM)
09-Nov-2012		09-Nov-2012	MODIFIED
		12-Feb-2010	(import)