Suborder SCOMBROIDEI

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Introduction

This suborder includes six families of pelagic fishes found throughout the tropical and temperate oceans. Many members of the Scombroidei are important commercial and gamefish species. Nelson (1994) regarded the Istiophoridae (marlins and sailfishes) as a subfamily of the Xiphiidae, but Nelson (2006) assigned the two groups to separate families. Relationships are treated in Collette et al. (1984, 2006), Johnson (1986) and Collette (1999). Collette et al. (2006) and Orrell et al. (2006) placed the Xiphiidae and Istiophioridae in a separate suborder the Xiphioidei. The Sphyraenidae also are often placed in the Percoidei or Sphyraenoidei. Wiley & Johnson (2010) argued to retain the group as a single unit, elevating the group to the order Scombriformes. They suggested that suborder allocation should await further work. Consequently because of the disagreement, we retain the existing classification, but recognise that it will eventually be split into two or more suborders. Fossil Xiphoidei (as recognised by Orrell et al. 2006) are treated by Fierstine (2006).

General References

Collette, B.B. 1999. Mackerels, molecules, and morphology. pp. 149-164 in Séret, B. & Sire, J.-Y (eds). Proceedings of the 5th Indo-Pacific Fish Conference. Nouméa, 3-8 November 1997. Paris : Société Française d'Ichtyologie 888 pp.

Collette, B.B., McDowell, J.R. & Graves, J.E. 2006. Phylogeny of recent billfishes (Xiphioidei). Bulletin of Marine Science 79(3): 455-468

Collette, B.B., Potthoff, T., Richards, W.J., Ueyanagi, S., Russo, J.L. & Nishikawa, Y. 1984. Scombroidei: development and relationships. pp. 591-620 in Moser, H.G. et al. (eds). Ontogeny and Systematics of Fishes. American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. Special Publication 1: 1-760

Fierstine, H.L. 2006. Fossil history of billfishes (Xiphioidei). Bulletin of Marine Science 79(3): 433-453

Hoese, D.F., Bray, D.J., Paxton, J.R. & Allen, G.R. 2006. 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. [1747]

Johnson, G.D. 1986. Scombrid phylogeny: an alternative hypothesis. Bulletin of Marine Science 39(1): 1-41

Nelson, J.S. 1994. Fishes of the World. New York : John Wiley & Sons 600 pp.

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

Orrell, T.M., Collette, B.B. & Johnson, G.D. 2006. Molecular data support separate scombroid and xiphioid clades. Bulletin of Marine Science 79(3): 505–519

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.

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