Otocephala is a

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

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 within the infraclass

Teleostei Teleostei (; Ancient Greek, Greek ''teleios'' "complete" + ''osteon'' "bone"), members of which are known as teleosts (), is, by far, the largest group of ray-finned fishes (class Actinopterygii), with 96% of all neontology, extant species of f ...

that evolved some 230 million years ago. It is named for the presence of a hearing (otophysic) link from the

swimbladder The swim bladder, gas bladder, fish maw, or air bladder is an internal gas-filled organ in bony fish that functions to modulate buoyancy, and thus allowing the fish to stay at desired water depth without having to maintain lift via swimming, w ...

to the

inner ear The inner ear (internal ear, auris interna) is the innermost part of the vertebrate ear. In vertebrates, the inner ear is mainly responsible for sound detection and balance. In mammals, it consists of the bony labyrinth, a hollow cavity in the ...

. Other names proposed for the group include Ostarioclupeomorpha and Otomorpha. The clade contains

Clupeiformes Clupeiformes is the order of ray-finned fish that includes the herring family, Clupeidae, and the anchovy family, Engraulidae and sardines. The group includes many of the most important forage and food fish. Clupeiformes are physostomes, ...

(herrings) and

Ostariophysi Ostariophysi is the second-largest superorder of fish. Members of this superorder are called ostariophysians. This diverse group contains 10,758 species, about 28% of known fish species in the world and 68% of freshwater species, and are present ...

, a group of other orders including

Cypriniformes Cypriniformes is an order of ray-finned fish, which includes many families and genera of cyprinid ( carps and their kin) fish, such as barbs, loaches, botias, and minnows (among others). Cypriniformes is an "order-within-an-order", placed ...

(minnows and allies),

Gymnotiformes The Gymnotiformes are an order of teleost bony fishes commonly known as Neotropical knifefish or South American knifefish. They have long bodies and swim using undulations of their elongated anal fin. Found almost exclusively in fresh water (the ...

(knifefish), and

Siluriformes Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Catfish are named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, though not all catfish have prominent barbels or "whis ...

(catfish). Otocephala may also contain

Alepocephaliformes Alepocephaliformes is an order of marine deep-sea teleost fishes. It was previously classified as the suborder Alepocephaloidei of the order Argentiniformes. As an adaptation to a life in the deep-sea, there is no swim bladder, and the ossifica ...

(slickheads), but as yet (2016) without morphological evidence. The clade is sister to

Euteleostei Euteleostei, whose members are known as euteleosts, is a clade of bony fishes within Teleostei that evolved some 240 million years ago, although the oldest known fossil remains are only from the Early Cretaceous. It is divided into Protacanthopt ...

which contains the majority of bony fish alive today. In 2015, Benton and colleagues set a "plausible minimum" date for the origin of

crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, parti ...

Otocephala as about 228.4 million years ago. They argued that since the oldest locality for any diversity of stem teleosts is the

Carnian The Carnian (less commonly, Karnian) is the lowermost stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Upper Triassic series (stratigraphy), Series (or earliest age (geology), age of the Late Triassic Epoch (reference date), Epoch). It lasted from 237 to 227.3 ...

of Polberg bei Lunz, Austria, whose base is 235 million years old, a rough estimate for Otocephala can be made. The earliest known fossil member of the group is '' Tischlingerichthys'' from the

Late Jurassic The Late Jurassic is the third Epoch (geology), epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time scale, geologic time from 161.5 ± 1.0 to 143.1 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic stratum, strata.Owen ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Taxonomy

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 Otocephala as a cohort and subdivides it above the level of order as set out below, the classification of extant taxa from the level of order and below follows ''

Eschmeyer's 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 ...

'': * Cohort Otocephala ** Superorder

Clupeomorpha Clupeomorpha is a superorder of ray-finned fish which belongs to the clade Otocephala. Represented today only by the diverse, economically-important order Clupeiformes (containing herrings, anchovies and allies), it was formerly even more diverse ...

Greenwood ''et al.'' 1966 ***Order

Ellimmichthyiformes The Ellimmichthyiformes, also known as double-armored herrings, are an Extinction, extinct Order (biology), order of Actinopterygii, ray-finned fish known from the Early Cretaceous to the Oligocene. They were the sister group to the extant true h ...

Grande, 1982 *** Order

Edwin Stephen Goodrich, Goodrich, 1909 ** Superorder Alepocephali Ricardo Betancur-R, Betancur-R, ''et al.'', 2017 *** Order

Norman Bertram Marshall, N. B. Marshall, 1962 ** Superorder

M. Sagemehl, 1885 *** Series Anotophysi Donn Eric Rosen, Rosen and Humphry Greenwood, Greenwood, 1970 **** Order Gonorynchiformes Greenwood, Rosen, Stanley H. Weitzman, Weitzman, and George S. Myers, Myers, 1966 ***Series Otophysi Walter Garstang, Garstang, 1931 ****Order

Goodrich, 1909 **** Order

Charles Tate Regan, Regan, 1912 **** Order Characiformes Regan, 1911 **** Order

Oliver Perry Hay, Hay, 1929 Taxonomy based on: * Cohort Otocephala Johnson & Patterson 1996 [Otomorpha Wiley & Johnson 2010; Ostarioclupeomorpha Arratia 1997] ** Genus †''Kermichthys'' Taverne 1993 ** Family †Lycoclupeidae Gowda 1968 ** Family †Clupavidae Bertin & Arambourg 1958 ** Subcohort Clupei Wiley & Johnson 2010 [Clupeomorpha Greenwood et al. 1966] *** Order †

Grande 1982 *** Order

Edwin Stephen Goodrich, Goodrich 1859 ** Subcohort Alepocephali *** Order

Marshall 1962 ** Subcohort Ostariophysi Sagemehl 1885 *** Genus †'' Tischlingerichthys'' Arratia 1997 *** Family †Ancylostylidae Jordan 1923 *** Family †Erythrinolepididae Cockerell 1919 corrig. *** Section Anotophysa (Rosen & Greenwood 1970) Sagemehl 1885 [Anotophysi Rosen & Greenwood 1970] **** Order †Sorbininardiformes Taverne 1999 **** Order Gonorynchiformes Regan 1909 *** Section Otophysa (Rosen & Greenwood 1970) Sagemehl 1885 [Otophysi Rosen & Greenwood 1970] **** Genus †''Nardonoides'' Mayrinck, Brito & Otero 2014 **** Family †Chanoididae Taverne 2005 **** Family †Salminopsidae Gayet 1985 **** Superorder Cypriniphysae [Cypriniphysi Woodward 1901] ***** Order

Bleeker 1859 sensu Goodrich 1909 **** Superorder Characiphysae (Fink & Fink 1981) ***** Order Characiformes Goodrich 1909 **** Superorder Siluriphysae [Siluriphysi] ***** Order

Berg 1940 (Neotropical knifefishes) ***** Order

Cuvier 1817 sensu Hay 1929 (catfishes)

Phylogeny

Phylogeny of living groups based on:

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q22107399 Otocephala, Cohorts