''Pholidae'' is a

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

of marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or h ...

es, known as gunnels, in the

scorpaeniform The Scorpaeniformes are a diverse order of ray-finned fish, including the lionfishes and sculpins, but have also been called the Scleroparei. It is one of the five largest orders of bony fishes by number of species, with over 1,320. They are ...

suborder Zoarcoidei. These are fishes of the

littoral zone The littoral zone or nearshore is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely inundated), to coastal a ...

and are mainly found in North Pacific Ocean, with two species found in the North Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Ocean.

Taxonomy

Pholidae was first put forward as a family in 1893 by the American zoologist Theodore Gill. The 5th edition of '' Fishes of the World'' classifies this family within the suborder

Zoarcoidei Zoarcoidei is a suborder of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the order Scorpaeniformes. The suborder includes the wolffishes, gunnels and eelpouts. The suborder includes about 400 species. These fishes predominantly found in the boreal s ...

, within the order Scorpaeniformes. Other authorities classify this family in the

infraorder Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...

Zoarcales wihin the suborder Cottoidei of the

Perciformes Perciformes (), also called the Percomorpha or Acanthopteri, is an order or superorder of ray-finned fish. If considered a single order, they are the most numerous order of vertebrates, containing about 41% of all bony fish. Perciformes means ...

because removing the Scorpaeniformes from the Perciformes renders that taxon non monophyletic.

Etymology and spelling

Pholidae is derived from the name of the

type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearing type of a nominal ...

''Pholis'' which is an

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

name for a fish that hides in a hole, the name dating at least as far in history as

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...

. The family has been spelled as Pholididae, and this is grammatically correct, but Article 29 of the

International Code of Zoological Nomenclature The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. It is also informally known as the ICZN Code, for its publisher, the ...

permits the use of Pholidae.

Subfamilies and genera

The Pholidae is subdivided into two subfamilies, four genera with a total of 15 species: * Subfamily Pholinae Gill, 1893 ** Genus '' Pholis''

Scopoli Giovanni Antonio Scopoli (sometimes Latinized as Johannes Antonius Scopolius) (3 June 1723 – 8 May 1788) was an Italian physician and naturalist. His biographer Otto Guglia named him the "first anational European" and the "Linnaeus of the Au ...

, 1777 * Subfamily Apodichthyinae Hubbs, 1927 ** Genus '' Apodichthys'' Girard, 1854 ** Genus '' Rhodymenichthys''

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

& Evermann, 1896 ** Genus '' Ulvicola'' Gilbert & Starks, 1897

Characteristics

Pholidae, the gunnels, have elongate, compressed bodies which resemble that of

blennies Blenny (from the Greek and , mucus, slime) is a common name for many types of fish, including several families of percomorph marine, brackish, and some freshwater fish sharing similar morphology and behaviour. Six families are considered "t ...

. There is a single continuous

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through c ...

, which has a base that is roughly double the length to that of the anal fin, the dorsal fin extends from the head to the

caudal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as ...

. The dorsal fin contains between 73 and 100 stiff spines while the anal fin has between 1 and 3 spines and 32 to 53 soft rays. the nala fin and the dorsal fin are joined to the rounded caudal fin. Some species have no

pectoral fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as ...

s but where they are present they are very small. The pelvic fins are also small, if present, and very simple with a single spine and a single soft ray. There is a single pair of nostrils. The body is covered with very small, difficult to see, cycloid scales which are covered in mucus. the sensory canals on the head have pores which are open to the outside. The lateral line runs along the middle of the flanks and is made up of a row of superficial neuromasts. The teeth are small and conical. The gill membranes have a wide joining and they are separate from the isthmus. There are no ribs. They are camouflaged fishes with coloration which can be yellow and brown to red or green, frequently they are marked with spots, blotches, and bands. The largest species is the penpoint gunnel (''Apodichthys flavidus''} which attains a maximum published total length of while the smalled is '' Pholis nea'' which has a maximum published total length of .

Distribution, habitat and biology

Pholidae gunnels are predominantly found in the North Pacific Ocean off the western coasts of North America and the eastern coasts of Asia, except for two species in the genus ''Pholis'' which are found in the Arctic and North Atlantic Oceans. They are mostly found in rocky intertidal and nearby shallow waters below the tide line, particularly in areas of

kelp Kelps are large brown algae seaweeds that make up the order Laminariales. There are about 30 different genera. Despite its appearance, kelp is not a plant - it is a heterokont, a completely unrelated group of organisms. Kelp grows in "underwa ...

and other seaweeds. They frequently hide under rocks and in rock pools in the intertidal zone. Their diet is made up of small crustaceans and molluscs.

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1018093 Zoarcoidei Taxa named by Theodore Gill