Family MICROSTOMATIDAE

Microstomatidae

© Copyright Rosalind Poole

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Introduction

The Microstomatidae comprise three genera and 21 described species (Eschmeyer & Fong 2014). Currently, two genera and two described species are known from Australia. The Microstomatidae were previously included as a subfamily in the Argentinidae. However, the works of Ahlstrom et al. (1984) and Begle (1992) placed the three microstomatid genera into a distinct family. Johnson & Patterson (1996) and Wiley & Johnson (2010) included the Bathylagidae as a subfamily of the Microstomatidae.

Pencil smelts are mesopelaic in all oceans. Typically they are slender fishes with large eyes much longer than the snout, small mouths, no fin spines, and the dorsal fin positioned far back on the body. Kawaguchi & Butler (1984) revised the genus Nansenia. Kobyliansky (1990) treated microstomatid genera, and Gon (1990) treated species found in the Southern Ocean. Gon & Stewart (2014) described a new species of Microstoma from Australia and New Zealand.

Excluded Taxa

Misidentifications

Microstoma microstoma (Risso, 1810) — Gon, O. & Stewart, A.L. 2014. Description of a new species of Microstoma (Pisces, Microstomatidae) from the southwestern Pacific Ocean. Zootaxa 3884(1): 55-64 [55] (restricted to the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea)

General References

Begle, D.P. 1992. Monophyly and relationships of argentinoid fishes. Copeia 1992(2): 350-366

Eschmeyer, W.N. & Fong, J.D. 2014. Species of Fishes by family/subfamily. Catalog of Fishes. Online version updated 19 May 2014. http://research.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/SpeciesByFamily.asp

Gon, O. 1990. Microstomatidae. pp. 105-106 in Gon, O. & Heemstra, P.C. (eds). Fishes of the Southern Ocean. Grahamstown : J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology 462 pp.

Gon, O. & Stewart, A.L. 2014. Description of a new species of Microstoma (Pisces, Microstomatidae) from the southwestern Pacific Ocean. Zootaxa 3884(1): 55-64

Johnson, G.D. & Patterson, C. 1996. Relationships of lower euteleostean fishes. pp. 251-332 in Stiassny, M.L.J., Parenti, L.R. & Johnson, G.D. (eds). Interrelationships of Fishes. San Diego : Academic Press 496 pp.

Kawaguchi, K. & Butler, J.L. 1984. Fishes of the genus Nansenia (Microstomatidae) with descriptions of seven new species. Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History Contributions in Science 352: 1-22 figs 1-22

Kobyliansky, S.H. 1990. Taxonomic status of microstomatid fishes and problems of classification of suborder Argentinoidei (Salmoniformes, Teleostei). Trudy Instituta Okeanologii. Akademiya Nauk SSSR. Moskva 125: 148-177

Wiley, E.O. & Johnson, G.D. 2010. A teleost classification based on monophyletic groups. pp. 123-182 in Nelson, J.S., Schultze, H.-P. & Wilson, M.V.H. Origin and Phylogenetic Interrelationships of Teleosts. München, Germany : Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil 480 pp.

Common Name References

FishBase 2013. Fishbase at. http://www.fishbase.org/Summary. (Pencil Smelts)

Paxton, J.R. & Cohen, D.M. 1999. Families Argentinidae, Microstomatidae, Bathylagidae, Opisthoproctidae. pp. 1884-1887 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. 3 pp. 1397-2068. [1885] (Microstomatids)

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