Acanthuriformes is a large, diverse

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

of mostly marine ray-finned fishes, part of the

Percomorpha Percomorpha () is an extremely large and diverse clade of ray-finned fish. With more than 17,000 known species (including Scombroidei, tuna, Syngnathiformes, seahorses, gobies, Cichlidae, cichlids, flatfish, Labridae, wrasse, Perciformes, perches ...

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

. In the past, members of this clade were placed in the suborders Acanthuroidea and Percoidea of the order

Perciformes Perciformes (), also called the Acanthopteri, is an order or superorder of ray-finned fish in the clade Percomorpha. ''Perciformes'' means " perch-like". Among the well-known members of this group are perches and darters ( Percidae), and als ...

, but this treatment is now considered

paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

. This order contains many of the iconic tropical reef fish groups, such as

surgeonfish Acanthuridae are a family (biology), family of ray-finned fish which includes surgeonfishes, tangs, and Naso (fish), unicornfishes. The family includes about 86 Extant taxon, extant species of ocean, marine fish living in tropical seas, usually ...

, marine angelfish, butterflyfish,

rabbitfish Rabbitfishes or spinefoots, genus ''Siganus'', are perciform fishes in the family (biology), family Siganidae. It is the only Extant taxon, extant genus in its family and has 29 species. In some now obsolete classifications, the species having ...

, grunts, and snappers. It also contains widespread, economically important food and sport fishes, such as

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, temperate basses, and porgies. The only pelagic member of the group is the louvar.

Classification

The following classification is based on

Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes Catalog of Fishes is a comprehensive on-line database and reference work on the scientific names of fish species and genera. It is global in its scope and is hosted by the California Academy of Sciences. It has been compiled and is continuously up ...

(2025): * Order Acanthuriformes ** Family Gerreidae Bleeker, 1859 (mojarras) ** Family Sillaginidae Richardson, 1846 (sillagos) ** Family Moronidae

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

& Evermann, 1896 (temperate basses) ** Family Drepaneidae

Gill A gill () is a respiration organ, respiratory organ that many aquatic ecosystem, aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow r ...

, 1872 (sicklefishes) ** Family Ephippidae Bleeker, 1859 (spadefishes & batfishes) ** Family Sciaenidae Cuvier, 1829 (croakers & drums) ** Family Dinopercidae Heemstra & Hecht, 1986 (cavebasses) ** Family Haemulidae Gill, 1885 (grunts) ** Family Lobotidae Gill, 1861 ( tripletails and tigerperches) ** Family Monodactylidae Jordan & Evermann, 1898 (moonies) ** Family Emmelichthyidae Poey, 1867 (rovers) ** Family Lutjanidae Gill, 1861 (snappers) ** Family Malacanthidae Poey, 1861 ( tilefishes or sand tilefishes) ** Family Latilidae Gill, 1862 (deepwater tilefishes) ** Family Pomacanthidae Jordan & Evermann, 1898 (angelfishes) ** Family Chaetodontidae

Rafinesque Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz (; 22 October 178318 September 1840) was a French early 19th-century polymath born near Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire and self-educated in France. He traveled as a young man in the United States, ult ...

, 1815 (butterflyfishes) ** Family Leiognathidae Gill, 1893 (ponyfishes or slipmouths) ** Family Luvaridae Gill, 1885 (louvar) ** Family Zanclidae Bleeker, 1876 (Moorish idols) ** Family Acanthuridae Bonaparte, 1835 (surgeonfishes & unicornfishes) ** Family Callanthiidae Ogilby, 1899 (splendid perches) ** Family Nemipteridae Regan, 1913 (threadfin breams and spinycheeks) ** Family Lethrinidae Bonaparte, 1831 (emperor snappers) ** Family

Sparidae Sparidae is a family of ray-finned fishes belonging to the order Spariformes, the seabreams and porgies, although they were traditionally classified in the order Perciformes. The over 150 species are found in shallow and deep marine waters in t ...

Rafinesque, 1818 (porgys and seabreams) ** Family

Siganidae Siganidae, the rabbitfishes, are a small family of ray-finned fishes in the order Perciformes. The only extant genus is '' Siganus'', the rabbitfish and spinefoot. However, a number of genera are known from fossils. The extant species are marine ...

Richardson, 1837 (rabbitfishes) ** Family Scatophagidae Gill, 1883 (scats) ** Family Cepolidae Rafinesque, 1815 (bandfishes) ** Family Priacanthidae Günther, 1859 (bigeyes) ** Family Caproidae Bonaparte, 1835 (boarfishes) ** Family Antigoniidae Jordan & Evermann, 1898 (deepwater boarfishes) In the past, the rovers and drums were included within the suborder Sciaenoidei within the Acanthuriformes. However, this placement causes the group to be paraphyletic. Some authors have resolved this by placing the two families included in that suborder as ''

incertae sedis or is a term used for a taxonomy (biology), taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertainty ...

'' in the Eupercaria, but others have resolved this by placing even more families within the order, the latter of which is followed by the Catalog of Fishes. Some authors also lump the Lophiiformes and

Tetraodontiformes Tetraodontiformes (), also known as the Plectognathi, is an order of ray-finned fishes which includes the pufferfishes and related taxa. This order has been classified as a suborder of the order Perciformes, although recent studies have found ...

within this group as the suborders Lophioidei and Tetraodontoidei. However, they are presently retained as distinct orders by taxonomic authorities.

Fossil taxa

The following extinct groups are also known: * †Family Acanthonemidae Bannikov, 1991 * †Family Massalongiidae Tyler & Bannikov, 2005

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q60500115 Percomorpha Ray-finned fish orders Taxa named by David Starr Jordan