Family CHAMPSODONTIDAE

Champsodontidae

© Copyright Ros Poole.

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Introduction

Nemeth (1994) revised the Champsodontidae, recognising one genus and 13 species from the world's oceans. Nine species are recorded from Australia.

Champsodontids, or gapers, are benthic over the continental shelf and slope in Australia to depths 50–600 m, with a maximum recorded depth elsewhere at 1100 m. They are small sized, reaching a maximum size of less than 15 cm.

Relationships of the family are uncertain (Nelson 1994, 2006). Johnson (1993) suggested a relationship with scorpaeniform fishes and Mooi & Johnson (1997) provided further evidence in support of this thesis. Molecular studies have not supported a scorpaeniform relationship, but placed the group as an unnamed clade with close relationship to the Creediidae and Hemerocoetinae (Near et al. 2015).

General References

Johnson, G.D. 1993. Percomorph phylogeny: progress and problems. Bulletin of Marine Science 52(1): 3-28

Mooi, R.D. & Johnson, G.D. 1997. Dismantling the Trachinoidei: evidence of a scorpaenoid relationship for the Champsodontidae. Ichthyological Research 44(2): 143-176

Near, T.J., Dornburg, A., Harrington, R.C., Oliveira, C., Pietsch, T.W., Thacker, C.E., Satoh, T.P., Katayama, E., Wainwright, P.C., Eastman, J.T. & Beaulieu, J.M. 2015. Identification of the notothenioid sister lineage illuminates the biogeographic history of an Antarctic adaptive radiation. BMC Evolutionary Biology 15(109): 1-14

Nelson, J.S. 1994. Fishes of the World. New York : John Wiley & Sons 600 pp.

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

Nemeth, D. 1994. Systematics and distribution of fishes of the family Champsodontidae (Teleostei : Perciformes), with descriptions of three new species. Copeia 1994(2): 347-371 figs 1-12

Common Name References

Smith, M.M. & Heemstra, P.C. (eds) 1986. Smith's Sea Fishes. Johannesburg : Macmillan South Africa xx + 1047 pp. 144 pls. [734] (Gapers)

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