Family PERCOPHIDAE

Bembrops filifer

© Copyright Gilbert 1905

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Introduction

As traditionally recognised the family Percophidae comprises 11 genera and 44 species (Nelson 2006), with six genera and 13 species known from Australian waters. However, we have removed some of these groups to separate families and restrict the family to the Percophinae and Bembrposinae, recognising only two genera and eight species from Australia. These placements follow recent work which suggested that the family, as traditionally recognised, was not monophyletic (Smith & Johnson 2007; Odani & Imamura 2011; Near et al. 2015; Thacker et al. 2015). Because of their small size and cryptic habits, percophids are poorly represented in collections.

Relationships within the group have been regarded as polyphyetic. Near (2015) recognised the Bempropsidae as distinct from the Percophidae (including only the monotypic the Atlantic genus Percophis). They regarded the Percophidae as the sister group to the Notothenoidei and transferred the family to that suborder. Tentatively we retain the group here, but note that the Australian species fall within the Bembropsinae or Bempropsidae, which Near et al. suggested was more closely related to scorpaeniform and some perciform families..

Duckbills are found worldwide in tropical and temperate regions, inhabiting coastal and offshore environments onto the continental slope. They are benthic, living over sand. Maximum size reached is 25 cm.

Das & Nelson (1996) revised the genus Bembrops, and Thompson & Suttkus (2002) reviewed the Indo-Pacific species of Bembrops, recognising nine valid species, one of them new. Seven of these species are recorded from Australian waters.

General References

Das, M.K. & Nelson, J.S. 1996. Revision of the percophid genus Bembrops (Actinopterygii: Perciformes). Bulletin of Marine Science 59(1): 9-44

Gilbert, C.H. 1905. The deep-sea fishes. In, Jordan, D.S. & Evermann, B.W. The aquatic resources of the Hawaiian Islands. Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission 23(2): 575-713 figs 230-276 pls 66-101 [pl. 84]

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. 1982. Pteropsaron heemstrai and Osopsaron natalensis (Perciformes : Percophidae), new fish species from South Africa, with comments on Squamicreedia obtusa from Australia and on the classification of the subfamily Hemerocoetinae. Special Publication of the J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology Rhodes University 25: 1-11 figs 1-7

Nelson, J.S. 2001. Trichonotidae, Creediidae, Percophidae. pp. 3511-3516 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. 6 pp. 3381-4218.

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

Odani, K. & Imamura, H. 2011. New phylogenetic proposal for the Family Leptoscopidae (Perciformes: Trachinoidei). Bulletin of Fisheries Sciences, Hokkaido University 61(2/3): 49-63

Smith, D.G. & Johnson, G.D. 2007. A new species of Pteropsaron (Teleostei: Trichonotidae: Hemerocoetinae) from the western Pacific, with notes on related species. Copeia 2007(2): 364–377

Thacker, C.E., Takashi P., Satoh, T.P., Katayama, T., Harrington, R.C., Eytan, R.I. & Near, T.J. 2015. Molecular phylogeny of Percomorpha resolves Trichonotus as the sister lineage to Gobioidei (Teleostei: Gobiiformes) and confirms the polyphyly of Trachinoidei. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 93: 172–179

Thompson, B.A. & Suttkus, R.D. 2002. A revision of Indo-Pacific Bembrops, family Percophidae (suborder Trachinoidei). Marine and Freshwater Research 53: 283-295

Common Name References

Nelson, J.S. 2001. Trichonotidae, Creediidae, Percophidae. pp. 3511-3516 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. 6 pp. 3381-4218. [3515] (Duckbills)

History of changes