Beloniformes - AccessScience from McGraw-Hill Education http://www.accessscience.com/content/beloniformes/802810

Article by: Boschung, Herbert Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Publication year: 2014 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.802810 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.802810)

Content

Adrianichthyidae Belonidae Bibliography Exocoetidae Scomberesocidae Additional Readings Hemiramphidae

An order of actinopterygian fishes that comprise, with the Atheriniformes and Cyprinodontiformes, the series Atherinomorpha. Fishes in the order Beloniformes are identified by the interarcural cartilage that connects the first and second gill arches; small second and third epibranchials; absence of interhyal; a nonprotrusible upper jaw; far posterior placement of the dorsal and anal fins; abdominal pelvic fins; and the lower caudal fin lobed with more principal rays than the upper lobe and significantly longer in needlefishes and flyingfishes. The order consists of 191 species in 38 genera and 5 families. Each family has distinctive features that make identification simple.

Adrianichthyidae

Adrianichthyids (ricefishes) are small fishes that inhabit fresh and brackish waters from India to Japan and to the Indo-Australian archipelago. Adults vary from 3 to 20 cm (1.2 to 8 in.) in length. They are best described by skeletal structures that they have lost. Absent are certain head bones, such as vomer, meta- and ectopterygoids, rostral cartilage, supracleithrum, and lateral lines. In one species, the smallest, the maxillae are absent as well as the right pelvic fin of females, and the mouth is very small, whereas in several of the larger species the jaws are greatly enlarged and the mouth functions like a scoop shovel.

Exocoetidae

This family, the flyingfishes (see illustration), is familiar to seafarers in the tropical and subtropical Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans. It is readily recognized by having unusually large pectoral fins that can be used for gliding above the ocean surface. Some species gain additional gliding ability from greatly enlarged pelvic fins. A flyingfish does not flap its “wings”; instead it glides on them after being launched into the air by powerful thrusts of the tail. Sustained “flight” is accomplished by repeated contacts of its elongate lower caudal fin lobe with the water. Worldwide there are 8 genera and about 52 species, 26 of which occur in blue waters of North America, including all of Mexico.

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California flyingfish (Cypselurus californicus). (After G. B. Goode, Fishery Industries of the U.S., 1884)

Hemiramphidae

Known as halfbeaks, these fishes are readily distinguished from other beloniforms by having the upper jaw much shorter than the lower; premaxillae pointed anteriorly, forming a triangular upper jaw; short pectoral and pelvic fins; and the tip of the long lower jaw bright red or orange in most species. Of the 13 genera and more than 100 species, most occur in the warm waters of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans, but several genera, some of which are viviparous, live in freshwaters of Southeast Asia. Four genera and 12 species are known from the marine waters of Mexico and the United States, and a single freshwater species occurs in Mexico.

Belonidae

The family Belonidae (needlefishes) differs from the preceding three families in having both upper and lower jaw elongated (very rarely the upper jaw is short) and equipped with numerous sharp teeth. It differs from the Scomberesocidae in lacking dorsal and anal finlets. At hatching, both jaws are short and of equal length (as in ricefishes and adult flyingfishes). As development progresses, the lower jaw elongates first (halfbeak stage, as in adult halfbeaks), followed by elongation of the upper jaw (needlenose stage, typical of adult belonids). Some of the larger belonids, such as the hound fish, Ablennes hians, can skitter over the water surface at great speeds, potentially posing a danger to waders, especially at night when the fish are attracted by lights or when they find themselves trapped by a net. There are 10 genera represented by 21 epipelagic species in tropical and temperate seas, and 11 species restricted to freshwater. Ten species in 4 genera occur in North American waters and only one, the Maya needlefish of Mexico (Strongylura hubbsi), is restricted to freshwater. Another, the Atlantic needlefish (S. marina), ascends rivers of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts to the Fall Line, including rivers of Mobile Basin, where it reproduces.

Scomberesocidae

This family, called sauries, consists of only four monotypic genera. They are closely related to the needlefishes, but finlets following the dorsal and anal fins easily distinguish them from other beloniforms. The jaws are delicate and vary from long and slender to relatively short. Sauries are epipelagic in tropical and temperate seas. See also: Actinopterygii (/content /actinopterygii/009100); Atheriniformes (/content/atheriniformes/058600); Cyprinodontiformes (/content /cyprinodontiformes/802870); Teleostei (/content/teleostei/680400)

Herbert Boschung

Bibliography

B. B. Collette, Family Belonidae Bonaparte 1832—Needlefishes, Calif. Acad. Sci. Annotated Checklists of Fishes No. 16, 2003

B. B. Collette et al., Beloniformes: Development and relationships, pp. 334–354, in H. G. Moser et al. (eds.), Ontogeny and

2 of 4 8/28/2015 9:21 AM Beloniformes - AccessScience from McGraw-Hill Education http://www.accessscience.com/content/beloniformes/802810 Systematics of Fishes, Amer. Soc. Ich. Herp. Spec. Publ. No. 1, 1984

L. R. Parenti, Relationships of atherinomorph fishes (Teleostei), Bull. Mar. Sci., 52(1):170–196, 1993

D. E. Rosen and L. R. Parenti, Relationships of Oryzias, and the Groups of Atherinomorph Fishes, Amer. Mus. Novit. 2719, 1981

Additional Readings

D.-S. Hwang et al., Complete mitochondrial genome of the marine medaka Oryzias melastigma (Beloniformes, Adrianichthyidae), Mitochondr. DNA, 23(4):308–309, 2012 DOI: 10.3109/19401736.2012.683181 (http://dx.doi.org/10.3109 /19401736.2012.683181)

T. Itoh, H. Kemps, and J. Totterdell, Diet of young southern bluefin tuna Thunnus maccoyii in the southwestern coastal waters of Australia in summer, Fish. Sci., 77(3):337–344, 2011 DOI: 10.1007/s12562-011-0340-0 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1007 /s12562-011-0340-0)

M. Kinoshita et al. (eds.), Medaka: Biology, Management, and Experimental Protocols, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, West Sussex, UK, 2009

J. H. A. Mol, The Freshwater Fishes of Suriname, Brill, Leiden, Netherlands, 2012

FishBase: Order Summary for Beloniformes (http://fishbase.org/summary/OrdersSummary.php?order=Beloniformes)

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