Family PSEUDAPHRITIDAE

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Introduction

Balushkin (1992) reassigned the monotypic genus Pseudaphritis to the family Pseudaphritidae, which he considered to be the sister group to all other families of the Notothenioidei (see also Last et al. 2002). Studies conducted since Balushkin (1992) confirm the validity of this reassignment, however most recent evidence supports the theory that the Bovichtidae diverged first from the remaining families, followed by the Psuedaphritidae (Lecointre et al. 1997; Near 2004; Dettai et al. 2012; Near et al. 2012).

Currently the family contains a single genus with one species, endemic to southern Australia. This species reaches a length of about 35 cm and is found in lower reaches of coastal rivers and streams, and estuaries. The group is currently under study by P. Last from CSIRO Marine Laboratories, who has indicated that there are probably two or more species of Pseudaphritis.

General References

Balushkin, A.V. 1992. Classification, phylogenetic relationships, and origins of the families of the suborder Notothenioidei (Perciformes). Voprosy Ikhtiologii 32(3): 3-19 [In Russian, English translation in Journal of Ichthyology 32(7): 90-110]

Dettai, A., Berkani, M., Lautredou, A.-C., Couloux, A., Lecointre, G., Ozouf-Costaz, C. & Gallut, C. 2012. Tracking the elusive monophyly of nototheniid fishes (Teleostei) with multiple mitochondrial and nuclear markers. Marine Genomics 8: 49-58

Last, P.R., Balushkin, A.V. & Hutchins, J.B. 2002. Halaphritis platycephala (Notothenioidei: Bovichtidae): a new genus and species of temperate icefish from southeastern Australia. Copeia 2002(2): 433-440

Lecointre, G., Bonillo, C., Ozouf-Costaz, C. & Hureau, J.-C. 1997. Molecular evidence for the origins of Antarctic fishes: paraphyly of the Bovichtidae and no indication for the monophyly of the Notothenioidei (Teleostei). Polar Biology 18: 193-208

Near, T.J. 2004. Estimating divergence times of notothenioid fishes using a fossil-calibrated molecular clock. Antarctic Science 16(1): 37-44

Near, T.J., Dornburg, A., Kühn, K.L., Eastman, J.T., Pennington, J.N., Patarnello, T., Zane, L., Fernández, D.A. & Jones, C.D. 2012. Ancient climate change, antifreeze, and the evolutionary diversification of Antarctic fishes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109(9): 3434-3439

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