The goatfishes are

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 ...

of the family Mullidae, the only family in the suborder Mulloidei of the order Syngnathiformes. The family is also sometimes referred to as the red mullets, which also refers more narrowly to the genus '' Mullus''. The family name and the English common name mullet derived from Latin ''mullus'', the red mullet; other than the red mullet and the striped red mullet or surmullet, the English word "mullet" generally refers to a different family of fish, the Mugilidae or gray mullets.''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

''
''s.v.'' 'mullet'
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Description

Goatfish are characterized by two chin barbels (or goatee), which contain chemosensory organs and are used to probe the sand or holes in the reef for food. Their bodies are deep and elongated, with forked tails and widely separated

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 ...

s. The first dorsal fin has six to eight spines; the second dorsal has one spine and 8–9 soft rays, shorter than anal fin. There are one or two spines in the anal fin with five to eight soft rays. They have 24 vertebrae. Many goatfish are brightly colored. The largest species, the dash-and-dot goatfish (''Parupeneus barberinus''), grows to in length; most species are less than half this size. Within the family are six

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

and about 86

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

Genera

These genera are classified as belonging to the Mullidae: * '' Mulloidichthys'' Whitley, 1929 * '' Mullus''

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

, 1758 * '' Parupeneus'' Bleeker, 1863 * '' Pseudupeneus'' Bleeker, 1862 * '' Upeneichthys'' Bleeker, 1853 * '' Upeneus'' Cuvier, 1829

Distribution and habitat

Goatfish are distributed worldwide in tropical, subtropical, and temperate waters, in a range of habitats. Most species are associated with the bottom of the littoral, but some species of '' Upeneus'' can be deep; for example, the goatfish '' Upeneus davidaromi'' can be found at depths of . Tropical goatfish live in association with coral reefs. Some species, such as the freckled goatfish (''Upeneus tragula''), enter

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

and

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

s, although not to any great extent.

Ecology

Goatfish are

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning "the depths". ...

feeders, using a pair of long

chemosensory A chemoreceptor, also known as chemosensor, is a specialized sensory receptor which transduces a chemical substance (endogenous or induced) to generate a biological signal. This signal may be in the form of an action potential, if the chemorecept ...

barbels (whiskers) protruding from their chins to feel through the sediments in search of prey. They feed on

worm Worms are many different distantly related bilateria, bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limb (anatomy), limbs, and usually no eyes. Worms vary in size from microscopic to over in length for marine ...

crustacea Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

ns,

mollusc Mollusca is a phylum of protostome, protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum ...

s and other small

invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...

s. Other fish shadow the active goatfish, waiting patiently for any overlooked prey. For example, in Indonesia large schools of the goldsaddle goatfish (''Parupeneus cyclostomus'') and moray eels hunt together. This behavior is known as shadow feeding or cooperative hunting. By day, many goatfish will form large

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

s of inactive (nonfeeding) fish; these aggregates may contain both conspecifics and heterospecifics. For example, the yellowfin goatfish ('' Mulloidichthys vanicolensis'') is often seen congregating with bluestripe snappers (''Lutjanus kasmira''). All goatfish have the ability to change their coloration depending on their current activity. One notable example, the diurnal goldsaddle goatfish (''Parupeneus cyclostomus'') can change from a lemon-yellow to a pale cream whilst feeding.

Mimicry

Goatfish have the ability to rapidly change color, and many species adopt a pale coloration when resting on the sand to blend with the background and become less visible to predators. These changes in color are reversible phenotypic changes and happen within seconds, many times during the lifespan of an individual. Two species, the mimic goatfish ('' Mulloidichthys mimicus'') and Ayliffe's goatfish ('' Mulloidichthys ayliffe'') have evolved to mimic the blue-striped snapper ('' Lutjanus kasmira''), with which they often form schools. These are slow, genetic changes that have occurred during their evolution over many generations.

Reproduction and life cycle

Goatfish are pelagic spawners; they release many buoyant eggs into the water, which become part of the

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms that drift in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) but are unable to actively propel themselves against ocean current, currents (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are ca ...

. The eggs float freely with the currents until hatching. The larvae drift in oceanic waters or in the outer shelf for a period of 4–8 weeks until they metamorphose and develop barbels. Soon thereafter, most species take on a bottom-feeding lifestyle, although other species remain in the open water as juveniles or feed on plankton. Juvenile goatfish often prefer soft bottoms, in seagrass beds to mangroves. They change habitat preference as they develop, coinciding with changes in feeding habits, social behavior, and the formation of association with other species. Most species reach reproductive maturity after 1–2 years.

Economic importance

Goatfish species are an important fishery in many areas of the world and some species are economically important. In ancient Rome until the end of the second century BCE, two species of goatfish ('' Mullus barbatus'' and '' Mullus surmuletus'') were highly sought-after and expensive, not as a delicacy, but for aesthetic pleasure, since the fish assume a variety of colors and shades also during death. Therefore, it was paramount to serve the fish live and let them die before the eyes of the guests.Andrews, Alfred C. (1949). "The Roman Craze for Surmullets". ''The Classical Weekly'' 42 (12). Miami. 186–88.

Timeline

ImageSize = width:1000px height:auto barincrement:15px PlotArea = left:10px bottom:50px top:10px right:10px Period = from:-65.5 till:10 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:-65.5 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:-65.5 TimeAxis = orientation:hor AlignBars = justify Colors = #legends id:CAR value:claret id:ANK value:rgb(0.4,0.3,0.196) id:HER value:teal id:HAD value:green id:OMN value:blue id:black value:black id:white value:white id:cenozoic value:rgb(0.54,0.54,0.258) id:paleogene value:rgb(0.99,0.6,0.32) id:paleocene value:rgb(0.99,0.65,0.37) id:eocene value:rgb(0.99,0.71,0.42) id:oligocene value:rgb(0.99,0.75,0.48) id:neogene value:rgb(0.999999,0.9,0.1) id:miocene value:rgb(0.999999,0.999999,0) id:pliocene value:rgb(0.97,0.98,0.68) id:quaternary value:rgb(0.98,0.98,0.5) id:pleistocene value:rgb(0.999999,0.95,0.68) id:holocene value:rgb(0.999,0.95,0.88) BarData= bar:eratop bar:space bar:periodtop bar:space bar:NAM1 bar:space bar:period bar:space bar:era PlotData= align:center textcolor:black fontsize:M mark:(line,black) width:25 shift:(7,-4) bar:periodtop from: -65.5 till: -55.8 color:paleocene text:

Paleocene The Paleocene ( ), or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), ...

from: -55.8 till: -33.9 color:eocene text:

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

from: -33.9 till: -23.03 color:oligocene text:

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...

from: -23.03 till: -5.332 color:miocene text:

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

from: -5.332 till: -2.588 color:pliocene text: Plio. from: -2.588 till: -0.0117 color:pleistocene text: Pleist. from: -0.0117 till: 0 color:holocene text: H. bar:eratop from: -65.5 till: -23.03 color:paleogene text:

Paleogene The Paleogene Period ( ; also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene) is a geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Neogene Period Ma. It is the fir ...

from: -23.03 till: -2.588 color:neogene text:

Neogene The Neogene ( ,) is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period million years ago. It is the second period of th ...

from: -2.588 till: 0 color:quaternary text: Q. PlotData= align:left fontsize:M mark:(line,white) width:5 anchor:till align:left color:miocene bar:NAM1 from: -23.03 till: 0 text: Mullus PlotData= align:center textcolor:black fontsize:M mark:(line,black) width:25 bar:period from: -65.5 till: -55.8 color:paleocene text:

from: -55.8 till: -33.9 color:eocene text:

from: -33.9 till: -23.03 color:oligocene text:

from: -23.03 till: -5.332 color:miocene text:

from: -5.332 till: -2.588 color:pliocene text: Plio. from: -2.588 till: -0.0117 color:pleistocene text: Pleist. from: -0.0117 till: 0 color:holocene text: H. bar:era from: -65.5 till: -23.03 color:paleogene text:

from: -23.03 till: -2.588 color:neogene text:

from: -2.588 till: 0 color:quaternary text: Q.

Gallery

Image:Parupeneus_insularis.jpg, '' Parupeneus insularis'' Image:Mulloidichthys flavolineatus .jpg, '' Mulloidichthys flavolineatus'' off the coast of Kona, Hawaii Image:Yellow striped goatfish ( Parupeneus chrysopleuron ).jpg, A school of yellow-striped goatfish ('' Parupeneus chrysopleuron'') and whitesaddle goatfish ('' Parupeneus ciliatus'') searching food on the sandy bottom, northeast coast, Taiwan Image:Whitesaddle goatfish 2.jpg, Whitesaddle goatfish ('' Parupeneus ciliatus'') searching food by digging the sandy bottom of Long-Dong Bay, Taiwan Image:Whitesaddle goatfish 1.jpg, Two whitesaddle goatfish ('' Parupeneus ciliatus'') searching food by using a pair of long chemosensory barbels on the sandy bottom of Long-Dong Bay, Taiwan

References

* {{Authority control Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque