Family ZEIDAE

Zeidae

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Introduction

Tyler et al. (2003) restricted the Zeidae to include two genera with six species, whereas Bray (1983) and Heemstra (1980) included additional zeiform genera in their revisions. Both genera and three described species are known from Australian waters, including a recently described species from off Western Australia and the South China Sea (Nakabo et al. 2006) that was not included in Tyler et al. (2003).

Dories or buckler dories are benthic on the continental shelf and slope, trawled in depths to 600 m. They are characterised by having large buckler scales along the bases of the dorsal and anal fins, as well as along the ventral midline from the isthmus to the anus. They have an ovoid, laterally compressed body, large, highly protrusible jaws and small to moderate-sized eyes. They are important food fishes, both in Australia and overseas. Maximum length attained is 70 cm.

Both genera and two of the Australian species are treated by Bray (1983, 1994, 2008) and Heemstra (1999).

General References

Bray, D.J. 1983. Revision of the fish family Zeidae. Unpublished MSc Thesis, Macquarie University, Sydney. 160 pp. 27 figs

Bray, D.J. 1994. Families Zeidae, Oreosomatidae. pp. 416-427 figs 373-381 in Gomon, M.F., Glover, C.J.M. & Kuiter, R.H. (eds). The Fishes of Australia's South Coast. Adelaide : State Printer 992 pp. 810 figs.

Bray, D.J. 2008. Family Zeidae. pp. 438-440 in Gomon, M.F., Bray, D.J. & Kuiter, R.H. (eds). Fishes of Australia's Southern Coast. Sydney : Reed New Holland 928 pp.

Heemstra, P.C. 1980. A revision of the zeid fishes (Zeiformes : Zeidae) of South Africa. Ichthyological Bulletin of the J.L.B. Smith Institute, Grahamstown 41: 1-18 figs 1-5 pls 1-2

Heemstra, P.C. 1999. Families Parazenidae, Macrocyttidae, Zeidae, Grammicolepididae, Caproidae. pp. 2257-2261 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. 4 pp. 2069-2790. [2259]

Nakabo, T., Bray, D.J. & Yamada, Y. 2006. A new species of Zenopsis (Zeiformes: Zeidae) from the South China Sea, East China Sea and off Western Australia. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 63(1): 91-96

Paxton, J.R., Bray, D.J., Gates, J.E. & Hoese, D.F 2006. Zeidae. pp. 799-800 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.

Tyler, J.C., O'Toole, B. & Winterbottom, R.W. 2003. Phylogeny of the genera and families of zeiform fishes, with comments on their relationships with tetraodontiforms and caproids. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 618: 1-110

Common Name References

Gomon, M.F., Glover, C.J.M. & Kuiter, R.H. (eds) 1994. The Fishes of Australia's South Coast. Adelaide : State Printer 992 pp. 810 figs. [416] (Dories)

Heemstra, P.C. 1999. Families Parazenidae, Macrocyttidae, Zeidae, Grammicolepididae, Caproidae. pp. 2257-2261 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. 4 pp. 2069-2790. [2259] (FAO) (Dories)

Tyler, J.C., O'Toole, B. & Winterbottom, R.W. 2003. Phylogeny of the genera and families of zeiform fishes, with comments on their relationships with tetraodontiforms and caproids. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 618: 1-110 [36] (Buckler Dories)

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