| Cusk-eel Temporal range:
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|---|---|
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| Pudgy cusk-eel (Spectrunculus grandis) | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Ophidiiformes |
| Suborder: | Ophidioidei |
| Family: | Ophidiidae Rafinesque, 1810 |
| Subfamilies | |
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See text | |
The cusk-eel family, Ophidiidae, is a group of marine bony fishes in the Ophidiiformes order. The scientific name is from the Greek ophis meaning "snake", and refers to their eel-like appearance. True eels diverged from other ray-finned fish during the Jurassic, while cusk-eels are part of the Percomorpha clade, along with tuna, perch, seahorses and others.
The oldest fossil cusk-eel is Ampheristus, a highly successful genus with numerous species that existed from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) to the early Oligocene.[1][2]
- ^ Schwarzhans, Werner; Stringer, Gary L. (2020-05-06). "Fish Otoliths from the Late Maastrichtian Kemp Clay (Texas, Usa) and the Early Danian Clayton Formation (Arkansas, Usa) and an Assessment of Extinction and Survival of Teleost Lineages Across the K-Pg Boundary Based on Otoliths". Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia. 126 (2). doi:10.13130/2039-4942/13425. ISSN 2039-4942.
- ^ "PBDB". paleobiodb.org. Retrieved 2024-02-16.