Family HOWELLIDAE

Howella sherborni holotype

© Copyright from Norman 1930

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Introduction

The genus Howella is included here, but is often placed in the family Apogonidae. The genus was revised by Fedoryako (1976), who apparently did not examine the Australian species, and by Post & Quero (1991). Johnson (1984) placed Howella in incertae sedis, and Roberts (1993) placed it in the family Howellidae. Nelson (2006), however, placed Howella in Percichthyidae, a family otherwise containing only freshwater species. Some workers have placed the genus in the Acropomatidae (Paxton et al. 2006). We follow Roberts (1993), Profovief (2007) and Gomon (2008) in recognising the genus in the family Howellidae.

Currently the family includes two genera and seven species. The genus Bathysphyraenops is worldwide and expected to be found in Australia. The species are found in deepwaer, typically mesopelagic and upper bathypelagic,.

General References

Fedoryako, B.I. 1976. Materials on the systematics and distribution of the "oceanic Cheilodipteridae". Trudy Instituta Okeanologii. Akademiya Nauk SSSR. Moskva 104: 156-190 figs 1-17 [in Russian]

Gomon, M. 2008. Family Howellidae. pp. 564-565 in Gomon, M.F., Bray, D.J. & Kuiter, R.H. (eds). Fishes of Australia's Southern Coast. Sydney : Reed New Holland 928 pp.

Johnson, G.D. 1984. Percoidei: development and relationships. pp. 464-498 figs 254-264 in Moser, H.G. et al. (eds). Ontogeny and Systematics of Fishes. American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. Special Publication 1: 1-760

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

Norman, J.R. 1930. Oceanic fishes and flatfishes collected in 1925–1927. Discovery Reports 2: 261-370 figs 1-47 pls 1-2

Paxton, J.R., Gates, J.E. & Hoese, D.F. 2006. Family Acropomatidae. pp. 975-979 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.

Post, A. & Quero, J.-C. 1991. Distribution et taxonomie des Howella (Perciformes, Percichthyidae) de l'Atlantique. Cybium 15(2): 111-128 figs 1-7

Roberts, C.D. 1993. Comparative morphology of spined scales and their phylogenetic significance in the Teleostei. Bulletin of Marine Science 52(1): 60-113

Common Name References

Gomon, M. 2008. Family Howellidae. pp. 564-565 in Gomon, M.F., Bray, D.J. & Kuiter, R.H. (eds). Fishes of Australia's Southern Coast. Sydney : Reed New Holland 928 pp. [564] (Pelagic Basslets, Pelagic Cardinalfishes)

Prokofiev, A.M. 2007. Osteology and some other morphological characters of Howella sherborni, with a discussion of the systematic position of the genus (Perciformes, Percoidei). Journal of Ichthyology 47(6): 413–426 [appeared simultaneously in Russian in Voprosy Ikhtiologii 47(4):437-450] (Oceanic Basslets)

History of changes