The Acropomatiformes or Pempheriformes are an order of fish from the group of perch relatives

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 ...

. The relationship of the families assigned to the Acropomatiformes is based on molecular biological studies and is not yet supported by morphological characteristics. The giant sea bass (''Stereolepis gigas'') of the Eastern Pacific Ocean, with a maximum length of and weight of , is the largest species of the Pempheriformes. As early as 2007, Smith and Craig established a relationship between the wreckfish Polyprionidae, the longfin pike Dinolestes lewini, the armored heads Pentacerotidae and the lanternbellies

Acropomatidae Acropomatidae is a family (biology), family of ray-finned fish in the order (biology), order Acropomatiformes, commonly known as lanternbellies. ''Acropoma'' species are notable for having bioluminescence, light-emitting organs along their unders ...

. In February 2009, Blaise Li and colleagues described a monophyletic clade composed of the Howellidae, the Lateolabracidae and the deep-sea cardinalfishes Epigonidae in their analysis of the relationships between the various groups of the Acanthomorpha. In a revision of the bony fish systematics published in early 2013 by Ricardo Betancur-R. and colleagues, an order Pempheriformes with a total of 14 families was introduced as a new order of the perch-like family Percomorphaceae. The families assigned to this order previously belonged to the order of the perch-like family

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 ...

. However, with the advent of cladistics and the method of DNA comparison for relationship analysis, it became clear that the Perciformes do not represent a monophylum. In October 2015, two and in October 2018 four more families were added, so that the order Pempheriformes comprises a total of 20 fish families at the end of 2018. Davis, Sparks and Smith changed the name of the order to Acropomatiformes in 2016, which was adopted by FishBase and Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes, two online databases on the systematics of fish. The earliest known records of this group are fossil otoliths assigned to Pempheridae from the

Maastrichtian The Maastrichtian ( ) is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) geologic timescale, the latest age (geology), age (uppermost stage (stratigraphy), stage) of the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or Upper Cretaceous series (s ...

of the United States, ''

Acropoma ''Acropoma'' is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Acropomatidae, the temperate ocean-basses or lanternbellies. They are native to the Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean. They are characterized by a ventral luminous organ that has a lum ...

'' otoliths from the middle Paleocene of Denmark, and epigonid otoliths ("''Epigonidarum''") from the mid-late Paleocene of Ukraine. Complete fossil specimens of ''

'' are known from the

Early Eocene In the geologic timescale the Ypresian is the oldest age (geology), age or lowest stage (stratigraphy), stratigraphic stage of the Eocene. It spans the time between , is preceded by the Thanetian Age (part of the Paleocene) and is followed by th ...

of Italy (

Monte Bolca Monte Bolca is an Ypresian, Early Eocene-aged geologic site located near Verona, Italy, Verona, Italy. A ''Konservat-Lagerstätte'', it contains an extremely well-preserved and diverse marine biota, including the most diverse fish fauna of any Ce ...

Lifestyle

All species of Acropomatiformes live in the sea, some also live in brackish water, no species lives in fresh water. Numerous species of Acropomatiformes have the ability to

bioluminescence Bioluminescence is the emission of light during a chemiluminescence reaction by living organisms. Bioluminescence occurs in multifarious organisms ranging from marine vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as in some Fungus, fungi, microorgani ...

. This ability has arisen four to five times independently within the Acropomatiformes.

Systematics

The Acropomatiformes include over 300 species in 20 families worldwide. Stereolepis gigas 239967891

(lanternbellies), 12 species * Banjosidae (banjofish), 3 species * Bathyclupeidae (deep-sea herrings), 10 species * Champsodontidae (crocodile tooth fish), 13 species * Creediidae (sand cave fishes), 18 species * Dinolestidae (long-finned pike), 1 species * Epigonidae (deepwater cardinalfishes), 46 species * Glaucosomatidae (pearl perches), 4 species * Hemerocoetidae (obtuse sandfish), 26 species * Howellidae (oceanic basslets), 8 species * Lateolabracidae (asian seabasses), 3 species * Malakichthyidae (temperate ocean-basses), 15 species * Ostracoberycidae (spinycheek seabass), 3 species * Pempheridae (sweepers), 85 species * Pentacerotidae (armourheads), 14 species * Polyprionidae (wreckfish), 2 species * Scombropidae (gnomefishes),3 species * Stereolepididae (giant sea bass), 2 species * Symphysanodontidae (slopefishes), 13 species * Synagropidae (splitfin ocean-basses), 17 species *

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 ...

: '' Schuettea (eastern pomfret)'', 12 species

References

{{taxonbar, from=Q61719409, from2=Q60500655 Articles which contain graphical timelines Ray-finned fish orders