Family CEPOLIDAE

Cepolidae: Acanthocepola (Cepolinae)

© Copyright Ros Poole.

Cepolidae: Owstonia (Owstoniinae)

© Copyright Ros Poole.

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Introduction

Bandfishes occur in the Indo-west Pacific and eastern Atlantic and are characterised by having a very oblique mouth.

Two subfamilies are known, Cepolinae and Owstoniinae (Nelson 2006), but genera are not assigned to these here. Mok (1988) provided evidence for the relationship of the two groups. Members of the Cepolinae are elongate and normally occur in burrows in coastal regions out to the continental shelf, whereas Owstoniinae are usually free-swimming, occurring in deeper water on the continental shelf and onto the continental slope. Members of the Owstoniinae were once included in their own family, Owstonidae (with only the genus Owstonia), but were combined with the Cepolidae by Smith-Vaniz (1986). The maximum length is 70 cm.

In Australia, three genera and 17 species are known. Smith-Vaniz & Johnson (2016) revised Owstonia describing 21 new species. Previously three species were known in the subfamily Owstoniinae from Australia, with two being misidentifications of other species. Twelve species are now recognised from Australia, along with other unknown species based only on larval stages. Currently the names in use in Australia for Acanthocepla and Cepola are tentative and further work is needed on the group. They are poorly known and not well represented in collections. A key that includes some Australian species of Cepolinae is presented in Smith-Vaniz (2001).

General References

Hoese, D.F., Bray, D.J., Paxton, J.R. & Allen, G.R. 2006. 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. [1360]

Mok., H.-K. 1988. Osteological evidence for the monophyly of Cepolidae and Owstoniidae. Japanese Journal of Ichthyology 34(4): 507-508

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

Smith-Vaniz, W.F. 1986. Family No. 226: Cepolidae. pp. 727-728, figs 226.1-226.2 in Smith, M.M. & Heemstra, P.C. (eds). Smith's Sea Fishes. Johannesburg : Macmillan South Africa xx + 1047 pp. 144 pls.

Smith-Vaniz, W.F. 2001. Cepolidae. pp. 3331-3332 in Carpenter, K.E. & Niem, V.H. (eds). The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fisheries Purposes. Rome : FAO Vol. 5 2791-3379 pp.

Smith-Vaniz, W.F. & Johnson, G.D. 2016. Hidden diversity in deep-water bandfishes: review of Owstonia with descriptions of twenty-one new species (Teleostei: Cepolidae: Owstoniinae). Zootaxa 4187(1): 1–103

Common Name References

Smith-Vaniz, W.F. 2001. Cepolidae. pp. 3331-3332 in Carpenter, K.E. & Niem, V.H. (eds). The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fisheries Purposes. Rome : FAO Vol. 5 2791-3379 pp. [3331] (Bandfishes)

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