The surfperches are a family of

perciform Perciformes (), also called the Percomorpha or Acanthopteri, is an order or superorder of ray-finned fish. If considered a single order, they are the most numerous order of vertebrates, containing about 41% of all bony fish. Perciformes means " ...

fishes, the Embiotocidae. They are mainly found in northeast

Pacific Ocean 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 definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

(as far south as

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

), but a few species (genera ''

Ditrema ''Ditrema'' is a genus of surfperches native to the northwestern Pacific Ocean. Species There are currently three recognized species in this genus: * '' Ditrema jordani'' V. Franz, 1910 * '' Ditrema temminckii'' Bleeker, 1853 ** '' Ditrema temm ...

'' and '' Neoditrema'') are found in the northwest Pacific, and the tule perch is found in freshwater habitats in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

, United States. The largest species in the family reaches . They are viviparous fishes, in which the embryo is nourished directly by the mother, as well as the

yolk Among animals which produce eggs, the yolk (; also known as the vitellus) is the nutrient-bearing portion of the egg whose primary function is to supply food for the development of the embryo. Some types of egg contain no yolk, for example bec ...

. This gives the family its scientific name, from

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece 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 ...

''embios'' meaning "persistent" and ''tokos'' meaning "birth". This means the mother fish gives live birth instead of laying eggs.

Timeline of genera

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:NAM2 bar:NAM3 bar:NAM4 bar:NAM5 bar:NAM6 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 that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''pal ...

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

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

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

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but ...

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

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first 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 means "less recent" ...

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 ( ; also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of ...

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

Neogene The Neogene ( ), informally Upper Tertiary or Late Tertiary, 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 Mya. ...

from: -2.588 till: 0 color:quaternary text: Q. PlotData= align:left fontsize:M mark:(line,white) width:5 anchor:till align:left color:pliocene bar:NAM1 from: -5.332 till: 0 text:

Cymatogaster The shiner perch (''Cymatogaster aggregata'') is a common surfperch found in estuaries, lagoons, and coastal streams along the Pacific coast from Alaska to Baja California. It is the sole member of its genus. The shiner perch is also known as sev ...

color:pliocene bar:NAM2 from: -5.332 till: 0 text: Damalichthys color:pliocene bar:NAM3 from: -5.332 till: 0 text:

Rhacochilus ''Rhacochilus'' is a genus of surfperches native to the eastern Pacific Ocean. Species There are currently two recognized species in this genus: * ''Rhacochilus toxotes'' Agassiz, 1854 (Rubberlip surfperch) * ''Rhacochilus vacca ''Rhacochilu ...

color:pleistocene bar:NAM4 from: -2.588 till: 0 text:

Amphistichus ''Amphistichus'' is a genus of surfperches native to the eastern Pacific Ocean. Species There are currently three recognized species in this genus: * ''Amphistichus argenteus'' Agassiz, 1854 (Barred surfperch) * ''Amphistichus koelzi'' ( C. L. ...

color:pleistocene bar:NAM5 from: -2.588 till: 0 text:

Hyperprosopon ''Hyperprosopon'' is a genus of surfperches native to the eastern Pacific Ocean. Species There are currently three recognized species in this genus: * '' Hyperprosopon anale'' Agassiz, 1861 (Spotfin surfperch) * ''Hyperprosopon argenteum'' Gibbo ...

color:pleistocene bar:NAM6 from: -2.588 till: 0 text:

Phanerodon ''Phanerodon'' is a genus of surfperches native to the eastern Pacific Ocean. Species There are currently two recognized species in this genus: * ''Phanerodon atripes'' ( D. S. Jordan & C. H. Gilbert, 1880) (Sharpnose surfperch) * ''Phanerodon ...

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.

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q851697 * Labroidei Ovalentaria Viviparous fish Taxa named by Louis Agassiz

Timeline of genera

See also

References