Holocentridae 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 ...

, the only family of the suborder Holocentroidei and the only family of the order Holocentriformes. The members of the subfamily

Holocentrinae Holocentrinae is a subfamily of Holocentridae containing 40 recognized species and one proposed species. Its members are typically known as squirrelfish and all are nocturnal. All three genera in the subfamily are found in the Atlantic and ''Hol ...

are typically known as squirrelfish, while the members of

Myripristinae Myripristinae is a subfamily of the ray-finned fish family Holocentridae Holocentridae is a family of ray-finned fish, the only family of the suborder Holocentroidei and the only family of the order Holocentriformes. The members of the subfami ...

typically are known as soldierfish.Lieske, Ewald, & Robert Myers. 1999. ''Coral Reef Fishes - Caribbean, Indian Ocean, and Pacific Ocean including the Red Sea.'' 2nd edition. In

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

, they are known by the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

name or the Hawaiian . They are found in tropical parts of the

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

and

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

s, with the greatest

species richness Species richness is the number of different species represented in an community (ecology), ecological community, landscape or region. Species richness is simply a count of species, and it does not take into account the Abundance (ecology), abunda ...

near

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition (geol ...

s in the

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

. Most are found at depths from the shoreline to , but some, notably the members of the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

''Ostichthys'', are generally found far deeper. Being largely or entirely

nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

, they have relatively large eyes. During the day, they typically remain hidden in crevices, caves, or under ledges. Red and silvery colours dominate. The

preopercle The operculum is a series of bones found in bony fish and chimaeras that serves as a facial support structure and a protective covering for the gills; it is also used for respiration and feeding. Anatomy The opercular series contains four bon ...

spines (near the

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 ...

opening) of the members of the subfamily Holocentrinae are

venomous Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...

, and can give painful wounds.Randall, John E. 2005. ''Reef and Shore Fishes of the South Pacific.''. Allen, Gerry. 1999. ''Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia and south-east Asia.'' Most have a maximum length of , but ''

Sargocentron iota ''Sargocentron iota'', the dwarf squirrelfish, is a nocturnal benthopelagic species of squirrelfish belonging to the genus of ''Sargocentron''. It can be found in the Indo-Pacific region. It inhabits steep outer reef slopes. References iota ...

'' barely reaches , and '' S. spiniferum'' and ''

Holocentrus adscensionis ''Holocentrus adscensionis'' is a squirrelfish of the family Holocentridae found in the Atlantic Ocean. Its range extends from North Carolina, USA to Brazil and throughout the Caribbean Sea in the Western Atlantic and from Gabon to Ascension Isl ...

'' can reach more than . The squirrelfishes mainly feed on small fishes and

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". ...

invertebrates 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 chordate subphylum ...

, while the soldierfishes typically feed on

zooplankton Zooplankton are the heterotrophic component of the planktonic community (the " zoo-" prefix comes from ), having to consume other organisms to thrive. Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents. Consequent ...

. The larvae are pelagic, unlike the adults, and can be found far out to sea.

Timeline

Definitive holocentroid fishes first appear in the earliest part of the Cenozoic and boast a modest fossil record. ImageSize = width:1000px height:auto barincrement:15px PlotArea = left:10px bottom:50px top:10px right:10px Period = from:-66 till:10 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:-66 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:-66 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:NAM2 bar:NAM3 bar:NAM4 bar:NAM5 bar:NAM6 bar:NAM7 bar:NAM8 bar:NAM9 bar:NAM10 bar:NAM11 bar:NAM12 bar:NAM13 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: -66 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. The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

from: -0.0117 till: 0 color:holocene text: H. bar:eratop from: -66 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:paleocene bar:NAM1 from:-66 till:-61.6 text: Iridopristis color:eocene bar:NAM2 from:-55.8 till:-33.9 text: Berybolcensis color:eocene bar:NAM3 from:-55.8 till:-33.9 text:

Eoholocentrum ''Eoholocentrum'' ("dawn '' Holocentrum''") is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish that lived during the early Eocene. It contains a single species, ''E. macrocephalum'', known from the Early Eocene of Monte Bolca, Italy. It r ...

color:eocene bar:NAM4 from:-55.8 till:-33.9 text: Tenuicentrum color:eocene bar:NAM5 from:-37.2 till:-28.4 text: Holocentrites color:oligocene bar:NAM6 from: -27 till: 0 text:

Sargocentron ''Sargocentron'' is a genus of squirrelfish (family Holocentridae) found in tropical parts of the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, with the greatest species diversity near reefs in the Indo-Pacific. Being largely or entirely nocturnal, th ...

color:oligocene bar:NAM7 from: -24.2 till: 0 text:

Neoniphon ''Neoniphon'' is a genus of squirrelfishes. Species There are currently 6 recognized species in this genus: * '' Neoniphon argenteus'' Valenciennes, 1831 (Clearfin squirrelfish) * '' Neoniphon aurolineatus'' F. Liénard ( fr), 1839 (Yellowstrip ...

color:miocene bar:NAM8 from: -8.55 till: 0 text:

Holocentrus ''Holocentrus'' is a genus of squirrelfishes found in the Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth# ...

color:miocene bar:NAM9 from: -19.48 till: 0 text:

Ostichthys ''Ostichthys'' is a genus of fish in the family (biology), family Holocentridae found in Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean. Species Fifteen species in this genus are recognized: * ''Ostichthys acanthorhinus'' John ...

color:miocene bar:NAM10 from: -19.48 till: 0 text: Pristilepis color:miocene bar:NAM11 from: -15.5 till: 0 text:

Myripristis ''Myripristis'' is a genus of soldierfishes. Species There are currently 28 recognized species in this genus: * '' Myripristis adusta'' Bleeker, 1853 (Shadowfin soldierfish) * '' Myripristis amaena'' ( Castelnau, 1873) (Brick soldierfish) * ' ...

color:miocene bar:NAM12 from: -11.66 till: 0 text: Plectrypops color:miocene bar:NAM13 from: -11.66 till: 0 text: Corniger PlotData= align:center textcolor:black fontsize:M mark:(line,black) width:25 bar:period from: -66 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:

from: -0.0117 till: 0 color:holocene text: H. bar:era from: -66 till: -23.03 color:paleogene text:

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

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

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1335080 Fish of Hawaii Euteleostei families Taxa named by John Richardson (naturalist)