Eulophiidae, the spinous eelpouts, is a small

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

of marine

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 ...

es classified 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 ...

Zoarcoidei Zoarcoidei is a suborder of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the Order (biology), order Perciformes. The suborder includes the wolffishes, Pholidae, gunnels and eelpouts. The suborder includes about 400 species. These fishes are predominantl ...

of 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 ...

Scorpaeniformes The Scorpaeniformes are a diverse Order (biology), order of Actinopterygii, 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 spec ...

. They are found in the northwestern Pacific Ocean.

Taxonomy

Eulophiidae was first proposed as a family in 2013 by the Korean

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 ...

s Hyuck Joon Kwun and Jin-Koo Kim for the genus ''Eulophias'', which had previously been classified as belonging to the family

Stichaeidae Stichaeidae, the pricklebacks or shannies, are a Family (biology), family of marine ray-finned fishes in the suborder Zoarcoidei of the Order (biology), order Scorpaeniformes. Most species are found in the North Pacific Ocean with a few in the N ...

. Kwun and Kim argued that the

molecular phylogenetics Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

showed that ''Eulophias'' was only distantly related to the species classified within the Stichaeidae. This was supported by further molecular phylogenetic analyses published in 2014. and the validity of the family has been accepted by 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 ...

'', by ''

FishBase FishBase is a global species database of fish species (specifically finfish). It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on adult finfish on the web.

'' and by the ''

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 ...

''. The type species of the family, '' Eulophias tanneri'', was described from Japan by

Hugh McCormick Smith Hugh McCormick Smith, also H. M. Smith (November 21, 1865 – September 28, 1941) was an American ichthyologist and administrator in the United States Bureau of Fisheries. Biography Smith was born in Washington, D.C. In 1888, he received a Doc ...

in 1902, Smith thought that his new species was a

blenny Blennies (from the Greek and , mucus, slime) are a diverse clade of ray-finned fish in the suborder Blennioidei of the percomorph order Blenniiformes. They inhabit marine, brackish, and occasionally freshwater habitats, and generally share sim ...

but was different enough from other blennies that he proposed a new subfamily, Eulophiasinae, as a monotypic subfamily of the Blennidae, Jordan and Snyder changed the name to Eulophinae in 1902. The genera ''Eulophias'' and ''Azygopterus'' were subsequently placed in the subfamily Neozarchinae in the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

Eulophini prior to Kwun and Kim's analysis. The 5th edition of ''Fishes of the World'' classifies this family within the suborder Zoarcoidei, within the order Scorpaeniformes. Other authorities classify this family in the

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

Zoarcales within the suborder Cottoidei of the

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 ...

because removing the Scorpaeniformes from the Perciformes renders that taxon non

monophyletic 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 co ...

Genera

Eulophiidae contains the following 3 genera, and only 4 or 5 species are classified as belonging to the family:

Etymology

The family name is based on the name Smith gave to ''Eulophias tanneri'' in 1902 and is a combination of ''eu'', meaning "well", and ''lophias'', which means "bristley backed", a reference to the long, spiny

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found ...

of that species.

Characteritsics

Eulophiidae fishes are characterised by having an almost completely spiny dorsal fin, the

pectoral fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish aquatic locomotion, swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the vertebral column ...

s may be absent or have at most 7 rays, there are no teeth on the

vomer The vomer (; ) is one of the unpaired facial bones of the skull. It is located in the midsagittal line, and articulates with the sphenoid, the ethmoid, the left and right palatine bones, and the left and right maxillary bones. The vomer forms ...

ine or on the

palatine A palatine or palatinus (Latin; : ''palatini''; cf. derivative spellings below) is a high-level official attached to imperial or royal courts in Europe since Roman Empire, Roman times.

teeth, they have 6

branchiostegal ray This glossary of ichthyology is a list of definitions of terms and concepts used in ichthyology, the study of fishes. A B C ...

s, there is no

pyloric caeca Starfish or sea stars are star-shaped echinoderms belonging to the class Asteroidea (). Common usage frequently finds these names being also applied to ophiuroids, which are correctly referred to as brittle stars or basket stars. Starfish ...

, they have between 26 and 45 vertebrae in front of the tail and the parietals do not meet at the midline of the skull.

Distribution

Eulophidae fishes are found in the North Western Pacific Ocean off Japan, Korea and the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East ( rus, Дальний Восток России, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in North Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asia, Asian continent, and is coextensive with the Far Easte ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q22103324 Perciformes families