Zeiformes - AccessScience from McGraw-Hill Education Page 1 of 2

Zeiformes

Article by: Boschung, Herbert Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Publication year: 2014 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.754300 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.754300)

Content

• Bibliography • Additional Readings

The order of teleost fishes collectively called dories. The order Zeiformes has representatives in all seas of the world from the tropics to Antarctica; however, they are most common in tropical and temperate zones, in waters of moderate depth to at least 1800 m (5900 ft). Most species are mesopelagic or bathypelagic. Structurally intermediary to the beryciform and the perciform fishes, zeiforms are characterized by a body varying from moderately elongate to very deep and compressed; jaws usually greatly protractile; colors predominantly silvery or silver gray; absence of an orbitosphenoid bone; a simple posttemporal bone rigidly united to the skull; a pelvic fin, each with one spine or none and from two to ten soft rays; a first dorsal fin with five to ten spines, usually strong; and an anal fin with one to four spines. Most species are of small size and of minor economic importance. See also: Teleostei (/content/teleostei/680400)

The order consists of five families. The Oreosomatidae have a very deep and compressed body, a superior and protractile mouth, and small cycloid or ctenoid scales; the young bear conical scutes on parts of body. The Parazenidae have a moderately deep body, highly protractile premaxillaries, weakly ctenoid scales that are not vertically elongate, two lateral lines that are fused behind the soft dorsal fin, and thoracic pelvic fins. This family consists of a single species, Parazen pacificus, known only from Japan and halfway around the world in waters off Cuba. Species of Zeniontidae (formerly Macrurocyttidae) have an elongate body, an extremely protractile upper jaw, large eyes, and a pelvic fin that may consist of a single large serrated spine preceding two inconspicuous soft rays and strong and serrated dorsal spines, with one quite larger than the others. Grammicolepididae have a very deep body, a small mouth with nearly vertical jaws, and vertically elongate scales. The Zeidae have a large, almost vertical mouth, small scales (if present) that are not vertically elongate, and spines or bucklers (enlarged body scales) at the base of the dorsal and anal fins.

Herbert Boschung

Bibliography

http://accessscience.com/content/754300 7/14/2015 Zeiformes - AccessScience from McGraw-Hill Education Page 2 of 2

P. C. Heemstra, A revision of the zeid fishes (Zeiformes: Zeidae) of South Africa, Ichthyol. Bull. J. L. B. Smith Inst. Ichthyol, 41:1–18, 1980

P. C. Heemstra, Zeidae: Dories, pp. 1207–1209, in K. E. Carpenter (ed.), FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes: The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Atlantic, vol. 2: Bony Fishes, part 1 (Acipenseridae to Grammatidae), U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), Rome, 2002

P. C. Heemstra, Zeniontidae, p. 441, in M. M. Smith and P. C. Heemstra (eds.), Smith’s Sea Fishes, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1986

Additional Readings

F. Cousteau, Ocean: The World's Last Wilderness Revealed, Dorling Kindersley Publishing, New York, 2008

M. A. Rossin et al., A new species of Hysterothylacium (Ascaridoidea, Anisakidae) parasitic in Zenopsis conchifer (Zeiformes, Zeidae) from Argentinean waters, Acta Parasitol., 56(3):310–314, 2011 DOI: 10.2478/s11686-011-0062-6 (http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/s11686-011-0062-6)

http://accessscience.com/content/754300 7/14/2015