The Zaniolepididae is a

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 ...

Cottoidei Cottoidei is a suborder of ray-finned fishes which, according to the 5th edition of ''Fishes of the World'', is placed within the order Scorpaeniformes, alongside the scorpionfishes, flatheads, eelpouts, sticklebacks and related fishes. Taxon ...

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 ...

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 ...

. They are found in the North Pacific Ocean.

Taxonomy

''Zaniolepididae'' was first proposed as a family in 1883 by the American ichthyologists David Starr Jordan and Charles Henry Gilbert. this taxon has been classified as the subfamily Zaniolepinae within the

Hexagrammidae Hexagrammidae, the greenlings, is a Family (biology), family of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the suborder Cottoidei in the Order (biology), order Perciformes. These fishes are found in the North Pacific Ocean. Taxonomy Hexagrammidae wa ...

. This family is classified within its own superfamily, the Zaniolepidoidea, within the

of the

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 ...

. Other workers have found that if the Scorpaeniformes, as delimited in ''Fishes of the World'', is not included in the

it renders the Perciformes

paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

. These workers retain the Cottoidei as a suborder within the

while reclassifying Zaniolepidoidea as 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 ...

Zaniolepidoales.

Subfamilies and genera

Zaniolepididae has 2 genera classified within it, each within its own monotypic subfamily: * Subfamily Oxylebiinae

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 ...

, 1862 ** ''

Oxylebius The painted greenling (''Oxylebius pictus'') is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Zaniolepididae, which includes this species and the combfishes. It is endemic to the northeast Pacific Ocean. It is the only species in t ...

'' Gill, 1862 (painted greenlet) * Subfamily Zaniolepidinae

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

& Gilbert 1883 ** ''

Zaniolepis ''Zaniolepis'', the combfishes, is a genus of marine ray-finned fish, it is one of two genera in the family Zaniolepididae. These fishes are native to the eastern Pacific Ocean. ''Z. frenata'' that was a source of food to the Native American in ...

'' Gilbert, 1858 (combfishes)

Characteristics

Zaniolepididae is characterised by having an incision between the first and second

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 and by having an

anal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported o ...

with 3 or 4 spines. The

caudal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported only ...

may be rounded or truncate, there is one complete

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelia ...

and the scales are ctenoid. These are medium sized fishes with maximum

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish measured f ...

s of .

Distribution

Zaniolepidiae are endemic to the eastern North Pacific Ocean from Alaska south to Baja California.

Utilization

Zaniolepididae has one species, ''

Zaniolepis frenata ''Zaniolepis frenata'', also known as the shortspine combfish, is a species of ray-finned fish belonging to the family Zaniolepididae.The species occurs in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Taxonomy ''Zaniolepis frenata'' was first formally described ...

'', which has been recorded as a source of food for the Native American inhabitants of

San Nicolas Island San Nicolas Island (Spanish: ''Isla de San Nicolás''; Tongva: ''Haraasnga'') is the most remote of the Channel Islands, off Southern California, from the nearest point on the mainland coast. It is part of Ventura County. The island is current ...

off the coast of

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

during the Middle Holocene.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q26897763 Perciformes families Taxa named by David Starr Jordan Taxa named by Charles Henry Gilbert