Congiopodidae, commonly known as pigfishes, horsefishes and racehorses, is a family of

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...

classified with in the

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 ...

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 ...

. These fishes are native to the Southern Hemisphere.

Taxonomy

Congiopodidae was first formally recognised as a family by the American

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

Theodore Gill Theodore Nicholas Gill (March 21, 1837 – September 25, 1914) was an American ichthyologist, mammalogist, malacologist, and librarian. Career Born and educated in New York City under private tutors, Gill early showed interest in natural hist ...

in 1889. The 5th edition of ''

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' is a standard reference for the systematics of fishes. It was first written in 1976 by the American ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011). Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of t ...

'' classifies the family within the

suborder Order () 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 recognized ...

Scorpaenoidei Scorpaenoidei is a suborder of Actinopterygii, ray-finned fishes, part of the Order (biology), order Perciformes, that includes the scorpionfishes, lionfishes and velvetfishes. This suborder is at its most diverse in the Pacific and Indian Oceans ...

which in turn is classified within the order Scorpaeniformes. Other authorities place the Scorpaenoidei within the

. The

monophyly In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent comm ...

of the Congiopodidae as set out in ''Fishes of the World'' is not universally agreed upon. Some authorities classify the genus ''Perryena'' in its own

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

, Perryeninae, in the stonefish family

Synanceiidae Synanceiinae is a subfamily of Venom, venomous ray-finned fishes, waspfishes, which is classification of life, classified as part of the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes and their relatives. These fishes are found in the Indo-Pacific ocean ...

. The genera ''Alertichthys'' and ''Zanclorhynchus'' are classified within the family Zanclorhynchidae leaving ''Congiopodus'' as the only genus in the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

Congiopodidae. The name of the family is based on that of the genus ''Congiopodus'', the derivation of which was not explained by its author, the English

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

George Perry, but may be a combination of the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

''gongulos'', meaning "round", and ''podus'', which means "foot", maybe referring to the roundish pelvic fins of the type species ''C. percatus'' (now ''C. torvus'').

Genera

Congiopodidae contains 6 recognized species which are classified in the following genera: * '' Congiopodus''

Perry Perry or pear cider is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally in England (particularly Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire), parts of South Wales, France (especially Normandy and Anjou), Canada, Austral ...

, 1811 * '' Perryena'' Whitley, 1940 (now in Synaceiidae)

Characteristics

Congiopididae is characterised by having no scales on the body and head, although the skin may have a grainy texture. There is one nostril on each side of the relatively long snout with a small mouth. The bill slit is rather small and is located above the base of the pectoral fin and the lateral line is typically well developed. The dorsal fin is continuous, except in ''Zanclorhynchus'', and has between 8 and 21 spines and 8 and 14 soft rays. The anal fin contains between 0 and 3 spines and 5 to 10soft rays. The maximum length is .

Distribution and habitat

Congiopids are found in the Southern Hemisphere where they live on the bottom of shallow temperate and sub-Antarctic seas, at depths of up to .

Biology

One Congiopodid, ''Congiopodus peruvianus'', is found in the shallow South American waters. In this species the adult's dorsal fin is relatively shorter than the juvenile's fin, but they all resemble yellow and orange dead tree leaves.

References