Family CYTTIDAE

Cyttidae

© Copyright from McCulloch 1911.

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Introduction

The Cyttidae comprise a single genus, Cyttus, with three species, and all have been recorded from Australian waters.

Lookdown or bigeye dories are benthic on the continental shelf and slope, trawled in depths to 600 m. They have ovoid, compressed bodies, large, highly protrusible jaws and small to moderate-sized eyes. They are characterised by having slightly enlarged scutes in a 'zipper-like' pattern from the isthmus to the pelvic fin origin. They are commercially important in Australia and overseas. Maximum length attained is 50 cm.

The cyttids were reviewed by Heemstra (1980), revised by Bray (1983) and recently redefined by Tyler et al. (2003). Species are treated in Bray (1994, 2008), Heemstra (1980) and Tyler et al. (2003).

General References

Bray, D.J. 1983. Revision of the fish family Zeidae. Unpublished MSc Thesis, Macquarie University, Sydney. 160 pp. 27 figs

Bray, D.J. 1994. Families Zeidae, Oreosomatidae. pp. 416-427 figs 373-381 in Gomon, M.F., Glover, C.J.M. & Kuiter, R.H. (eds). The Fishes of Australia's South Coast. Adelaide : State Printer 992 pp. 810 figs. [417-419] (in the family Zeidae)

Bray, D.J. 2008. Family Cyttidae. pp. 435-438 in Gomon, M.F., Bray, D.J. & Kuiter, R.H. (eds). Fishes of Australia's Southern Coast. Sydney : Reed New Holland 928 pp. [436-438]

Heemstra, P.C. 1980. A revision of the zeid fishes (Zeiformes : Zeidae) of South Africa. Ichthyological Bulletin of the J.L.B. Smith Institute, Grahamstown 41: 1-18 figs 1-5 pls 1-2 [7]

Paxton, J.R., Bray, D.J., Gates, J.E. & Hoese, D.F. 2006. Cyttidae. pp. 787-788 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. [788]

Tyler, J.C., O'Toole, B. & Winterbottom, R.W. 2003. Phylogeny of the genera and families of zeiform fishes, with comments on their relationships with tetraodontiforms and caproids. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 618: 1-110 [15]

Common Name References

Tyler, J.C., O'Toole, B. & Winterbottom, R.W. 2003. Phylogeny of the genera and families of zeiform fishes, with comments on their relationships with tetraodontiforms and caproids. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 618: 1-110 [35] (Bigeye Dories, Lookdown Dories)

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